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(tnly :\t tlu ijr:iy('r ui the Queen, \vh<: h;u; joined him after her 
'■eottisl) victoi'j', did Ivlwai'd release the prisoners." p- i.sj. 






STOKIES AND STUDIES 


FEOM 

ENGLISH HISTORY. 


BY 

MES S. C. HALL AND MES J. FOSTEE 

T*l » 


TENTH EDITION, 

ENLARGED AND BROUGHT DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIME. 




(SbiuburgJ); 

GALL AND INGLIS, G GEOEGE STEEET. 




JJA 3h 

■H 16 ' 

187 / 



I 


f. 










PREFACE. 


The little work here offered to young people has 
not been prepared for the purpose of teaching them 
the history of the dear Mother-land : it is rather 
meant to attract them towards the acquirement of 
knowledge so essential, by the study of higher and 
better authorities. Yet is this no unambitious 
aim. Compilations, however useful in their way, 
are, with few exceptions, but the form without the 
spirit; it is to an acquaintance with this last that 
we would fain invite our youthful readers ; and if 
it were found that, from these light pages, they 
would turn to the rich sources of our national 
history—some few of which we have been careful 
to point out to their notice for the promotion of 



PllEFACK, 


this desirable result—the utmost hope of the 
Authors would be accomplished. 

To ^ the present edition, various incidents have 
been added, bringing down the history to the pre¬ 
sent time. 

March, 1871. 

































CONTENTS 


Abobiotites ...... 

Homan Domination, or Period .... 

Story —The British Captive . , . 

Roman Domination — continued, A.D. 63 to 403 . . 

The PiCTS and Scots, A.D. 403 to 671 

/S'^ory—The Vocal Mountains . . . 

The Anglo-Saxon Monarchies, A. D. 671 to 696 . 

Story —The Early Christians 
The Anglo-Saxon Monarchies, A. D. 696 to 800 . 

Story —Edwin, the Exile of Deira 
The CONSOLIHATED MONARCHY, A. D. 800 to 869 
Story —Lodbrog, the Sea-Eong 
Alfred THE Great, A.D. 871 to 900 

Story —An Old Friend with a New Face 

Story —Hastings the Dane ... 

Edward the Elder and Others, A. D. 901 to 1016 

The Traitor’s Guerdon ... 

The Anglo-Danish Monarchy (Canute, Harold, and Hardicanute) 
A. D. 1016 to 1041 ..... 


PAGE 
. 1 
. a 

. 11 
. 16 
. 20 
. 24 
. 27 
. 29 
. 37 
. 39 
. 67 
. 62 
. 66 
. 73 
. 77 
. 82 
. 91 

! 94 


The Anglo-Saxon Monarchy Restored (Edward the Confessor 
and Harold n.), A. D. 1041 to 1066 . . . .98 

Story —A Legend of Harold II. . . . . 104 


THE NOEMAN LINE. 

William the Conqueror, A. D. 1066 to 1087 . 

Story —Here ward le Wake 
William Rufus, A. D. 1087 to 1100 

Story —The Stedfast Convert . . 

Henry I., A. D. 1109 to 1135 

Stephen, A. D. 1136 to 1164 .... 
Story —The One English Pontiff 

HOUSE OF PLANTAOENET. 


. 107 
. 115 
. 119 
. 123 
. 126 
. 134 
. 137 


Henry II., A. D. 1164 to 1189 . 

Story —The Evil Genius of the Plantagencts 
Richard Cceur de Lion, A. D. 1189 to 1199 . 

John, A. D. 1199 to 1216 . . . 

Henry III., A. D. 1216 to 1272 

Story—'iHne Monks of St. Bartholomew . 
Edward I., A. D. 1272 to 1307 

Story —The Prince’s Forbearance 
Edward II., A. D. 1307 to 1327 
Edward III., A. D. 1327 to 1377 ... 

Story — A. Star of Chivalry . . 

Richard II., A. D. 1377 to 1399 . 

Story —The Justice of our Forefathers 


. . 141 

. 145 
. . 148 

. 157 
. . 163 

. 167 
. 170 

. 175 
. . 178 

. 182 
. . 189 

. 194 
. . 109 







VI 


CONTENTS 


HOUSE OF LANCASTER. 

Hbitet TV., A. D. 1399 to 1413 . . . 

/Siiory—Where sleeps the King ? . 

HEifEY V., A. D. 1413 to 1422 . . . 

Story—The Good Lord Cohham , 

Henex VI., A. D. 1422 to 1461 . . . 

HOUSE OF YORK. 

Edwaed IV., A.D. 1461 to 1483 

Story —The Boat on the Solway 
Story —The Outlaw of Mold 
Edwaed V., A.D. 1483 . . , 

Richaed III., A. D. 1483 to 1485 

The First English Printer 

HOUSE OF TUDOR. 

Henet VII., A. D. 1485 to 1609 ... 

Story —The First Step to Greatness . , 

Henet VIII., A.D. 1509to 1547 . . , 

Story—The Geraldines . . . 

Edwaed VI., A. D. 1547 to 1553 . . . 

N^ory—The Bishop’s Prayer . . , 

Mabt, a. D. 1553 to 1658 .... 

jS'^ory—The Protestants of Mary’s Day 
Elizabeth, A. D. 1558 to 1603 . . . 

Story —The Red Hand of Llanvrothen . . 

HOUSE OF STUART. 

James L, A. D. 1603 to 1625 .... 
Chaeles I., a. D. 1625 to 1649 .... 

Story —The Loyal Derby . . . 

INTERREONUM. 

The Commonwealth, A. D. 1649 to 1660 

Story —The Martyrs of Colchester . . 

RESTORATION OF THE STUARTS. 

Chaeles II., A. D. 1660 to 1685 .... 

Story —Boscobel .... 

James n., A. D. 1685 to 1688 .... 

Story —The Martyrs of Humanity . 

William and Maet, A. D. 1688 to 1702 

Story —The Massacre of Glencoe 
Anne, A. D. 1702 to 1714 k . . . 

HOUSE OF HANOYER. 

Geoege I., A. D. 1714 to 1727 
Geoege II., A. D. 1727 to 1760 . 

Geoege III., A. D. 1760 to 1820 . 

Geoege IV., A. D. 1820 to 1830 . 

William IV., A.D. 1830 to 1837 
VlCTOEIA. A. D. 1837 , 




PAGB 

. 203 
. 207 
. 211 
. 214 
. 217 


. 224 
. 225 
. 232 
. 236 
. 239 
. 242 


. 246 
. 250 
. 254 
. 260 
. 265 
. 268 
. 271 
. 274 
. 278 
. 284 


. 290 
. 296 
. 301 


. 306 
. 309 


. 312 
. 315 
. 324 
. 327 
. 329 
. 332 
. 336 


. 338 
. 341 
. 344 
. 347 
. 350 
. 353 




ILLUSTEATIONS 


PAGE 


Britons in War Chariot . 

• 


• 


• 


. 2 

British Band . • 


• 


• 


• 

. 3 

Stonehenge 

• 


• 


• 


. 5 

The Cheesewring . 


• 


• 



. 7 

British Family 

• 


• 


• 


. 12 

Caractacus before Claudius Caesar 

• 


• 


• 

. 14 

Roman Standard Bearer. 

• 


• 


• 


. 19 

Launceston Castle . 


• 


• 


• 

. 23 

Welsh Mountains . 

• 


• 


• 


. 24 

Snowdon . 


• 


• 


• 

. 26 

British Youths before Pope Gregory 


• 


• 


. 30 

Christian Missionary and Ethelbert 

• 


• 


• 

. 33 

Burial of St. Cuthbert . 

• 


• 


• 


. 38 

Mountain of Wales 


• 


• 


• 

. 40 

Baptism of the Saxons , 

• 


• 


• 


. 63 

Sea Fight 


• 


• 


» 

. 64 

Alfred sharing his Loaf with a 

Beggar 

• 


• 


. 71 

Murder of Edward 


• 


• 


• 

. 87 

Canute*s Rebuke 

• 


• 


• 


. 96 

The Ordeal by Fire 


• 


• 


• 

. 99 

Hastings—from the Sea 

• 


• 


• 


. 102 

York Castle 


• 


• 


• 

. 110 

The Tower of London . 

• 


« 


• 


. 112 

Death of King Malcolm 


• 


• 


• 

. 121 

Monastery 

• 


• 


• 


. 122 

Ancient Church 


• 


• 


% 

. 125 

Loss of Prince William . 

• 


# 




. 130 

Rochester Castle , , 


• 


• 


• 

. 133 

Siege of Bristol Castle , 

» 


• 


• 


. 135 

Travelling in Time of the Plautagenets 


• 


• 

..141 

Murder of Thomas a Beckett 

• 


« 


• 


. 142 








TLLUSTEATI0N3 









PAGB 

Castellated Bridge . 


t 


• 


• 

. 147 

Massacre of the Jews 

• 




• 


. 150 i 

Robin Hood and his Men • 


• 


• 


• 

. 155 

The Lady de Brasse and her Son 

in 

Prison 



• 


. 158 

King John and the Barons . 


• 


• 


• 

. 160 

John conveyed in a Litter 

• 




• 


. 162 

Simon de Montfort . 


C 


• 


• 

. 165 

The Keep of Windsor . 

9 






. 166 

Waltham Cross . <. 






• 

. 174 

Prince Edward armed for the Crusade 



• 


. 175 

Corfe Castle 


• 


• 


• 

, 181 

Capture of Calais 

• 




• 


. 187 

Sir Walter Manny captures Hennebon 


• 


• 

. 191 

John, King of France, brought to London 



• 


. 198 

Henry V. at Shrewsbury 


• 


• 


• 

. 205 

Remains of a Norman Castle 

• 




• 


. 210 

On the Thames . ; 


• 


• 


• 

. 216 

Henry VI. taken Prisoner 

• 




• 


. 221 

Queen Margaret and the Robber 


• 


• 


• 

. 226 

Earl of Warwick at Barnet 

• 




• 


. 230 

The Outlaw of Mold . 


• 


• 


» 

. 235 

Westminster Abbey 

• 




• 


. 245 

Wolsey in council . 


• 


• 


• 

. 253 

The English Bible presented to Edward VI. 


• 


. 266 

Papal Procession . 


• 


• 


• 

. 277 

Elizabeth at Kenilworth 

• 




• 


. 281 

Raleigh’s courtesy 


• 


• 


• 

. 282 

Shakspeare’s Birth-place 

• 




• 


. 283 

Jevan’s Wife attacks Howel 


• 


• 


• 

. 286 

Whitehall 

• 




• 


. 295 

Buckingham stabbed by Felton 


• 


• 


• 

. 297 

Charles I. at Carisbrooke 

« 




• 


. 299 i 

Charles I. and his Children . 


• 


• 


• 

. 300 

Lucas and Lisle shot at Colchester 




• 


. siofl 

The London Monument 


• 


• 


• 

. 313^ 

Queen and Prince escape . 

• 




• 


. 826 

Defence of Derry . , 


• 


• 


« 

. 330 

St. Paul’s Cathedral • 

• 




• 


. 337 







STORIES AND STUDIES. 


ABOEIGINES. 


Whateyer obscurity may surround the origin of the 
Britons, certain it is that they were ever remarkable 
for bravery and love of liberty. A great difference 
prevailed between the inhabitants of the sea coast 
and those dwelling more inland ; the former had made 
a sort of progress in civilization, lived together in small 
towns, consisting of rudely-built huts, scattered about, 
with but little attention to order or convenience, but 
still a great improvement on the mere caves and 
hollows that formed the sole shelter of the inland 
tribes. They carried on no inconsiderable trade with 
their continental neighbours—nay, the Phoenicians, 
Greeks, and Carthaginians are proved, by competent 
authorities, to have visited these shores for the pur¬ 
poses of traffic; and it cannot be doubted that the 
“Tin Islands”'of Pestus Avienus are those now 
called the British islands. To the existence of this 
trade is to be attributed the superior prosperity of 

B 




2 


ABORIGINES. 


the maritime colonies, whose chieftains clothed them¬ 
selves with the skins of wild beasts, and decorated | 
themselves with feathers and glittering ornaments ; j 
while the inland tribes, either ignorant of the use, or 
despising the effeminacy of clothing, adorned them- | 
selves only with rude figures of animals, which they ^ 
traced on their naked bodies with the juice of woad. Jj 
Of the manners of the natives prior to the E-oman 
invasion we have no satisfactory accounts; but the ” 
Eoman authorities all concur in the fact, that Britain j 
was extremely populous, covered with human habita¬ 
tions, though of the simplest character; the fields 
teemed with grain, and there were fiocks and herds in 



industrious people; we must suppose that they had 
been subject to attack from hostile tribes, doubtless 







































































ABORIGINES. 




sea warriors from the north; or why should these 
islanders be able, on Caesar’s arrival, to bring into the 
field four thousand war chariots, which would, of 
course, require a double number of men and horses ? 
Devotedly attached to the chase, and profoundly 
expert in its craft and difficulties, it was from this 
that some of our early predecessors derived a great 
portion of their subsistence; their amusements were 
convivial entertainments, that too frequently termi- 
nated in strife, and the sole redeeming feature ol 
these was, that the bards were there held in high 
respect, and listened to with deep reverence, when 



tliey sung, as was their office, the achievements of 
their ancestors, or the history of their gods. The 























4 


ABOEIGINES. 


bards formed a privileged order; their persons were 
held sacred, they were frequently employed in embas¬ 
sies, or other offices of high moment, and their names 
and memory were long revered. But an order of 
men, still more influential and important than the 
bards, were the druids, or priests, of whose general 
character different writers have given a widely differ¬ 
ent description; some represent them as sanguinary' 
enthusiasts, exercising the most cruel tyranny over 
their votaries, and sacrificing prisoners of war to 
An date, their goddess of victory; others declare them 
to have been philosophers, austere in their habits, 
correct in their morals, and indebted for the influence 
they possessed, to the sanctity of their profession and 
the abstemiousness of their lives. They are said to 
have acknowledged one deity as supreme, but to have 
worshipped, as subordinate, the heavenly bodies, the 
ocean, rocks, mountains, and other sublime and beau¬ 
tiful objects in nature; they acknowledged a superin¬ 
tending providence, the immortality of the soul, and 
a future state of rewards and punishments ; but with 
these purer doctrines was connected the Pythagorean 
tenet of transmigration, holding which, they of course 
refrained from many kinds of animal food. 

The temples in which they worshipped were com¬ 
posed of large rough stones, disposed in circles; for 
they had not sufficient skill to execute any finished 
edifices. The most noted of these circles at the pre¬ 
sent time is Stonehenge, near Salisbury. 

Stonehenge possesses a stern and savage magnifi- 


ABOEIGINES 


O 


cence; the huge masses of rock are grey with age, 
and they are so long and large that the structure seems 
to have been raised by more than human power. 

There are still existing other remains of these 
wondrous structures of the early inhabitants of the 
British isles ; and although none show now so much 
the form of the temple as Stonehenge, yet it was very 



inferior in extent to the great temple at Avebury, 
which is also in Wiltshire; in the immediate vicinity 
are other works of remote antiquity, such as barrows 
or tumuli, and cromlechs. Among the barrows the 
most remarkable is Silbury Hill, which covers nearly 
six acres of ground, and is 170 feet in height. The 
numerous earth-works and standing stones all tend 
to show that at a remote age the district was not 
only a place of permanent residence of a large popu* 































6 


ABOllIOINiiS. 


lation, but that it was also the chief seat of the reli¬ 
gious order of the Ancient Britons. 

There yet remain in England some remarkable 
constructions of our Saxon progenitors, termed crom¬ 
lechs, which are supposed to have been places of 
sepulture to great chieftains. There is one near 
Aylesford in Kent, called Kit’s Coty-house; it con¬ 
sists of four huge unwrought stones, three of them 
standing on end and supporting the fourth; the 
latter is computed to weigh over ten tons. 

Cornwall contains several of the rude construc¬ 
tions of the early inhabitants of our island, and 
among them may be noticed a circle of nineteen 
stones, now about four feet above the ground, and 
standiug about five feet apart; they are called by the 
Cornish people “the merry maidens,” from a whim¬ 
sical tradition that nineteen maidens were thus trans¬ 
formed into stone for dancing on a Sunday. 

Besides these artificial erections of huge masses, 
there exist in some parts of the island of Britaiu, 
some wonderful lumps of rock, which have for ages 
excited the amazement of visitors, and one of the most 
extraordinary for its size is the Cheese-wring, which is 
a natural pile of rude rock, rising to the height of 
thirty-two feet, and standiug on the top of a hill near 
St. Clair, in Cornwall. It consists of eight stones, 
one of them being eleven yards in length, and nine 
in breadth. 

It has been observed that the progress of the Bri¬ 
tish people to rank among nations, although slow, has 


A-BOTITOTNES 


/ 

been marvellous; let us consider the island even in 
the reign of Alfred—its unpierced woods, dreary 
heaths, and wide morasses—and then through a suc¬ 



cession of centuries illuminated by those glorious 
spirits of the past—Hampden, Shakspeare, Sidney, 
Milton, Watt, and Arkwright; we see the same realm 
a mighty people, sending out its sons to found 
empires in the west, east, and south, its laws and in 
stitutions being the models for the government of 
millions of the human race, and, by the light of the 
Gospel, disseminating peace on earth and goodwill to 
man. 













8 


ROMAN PERIOD 


EOMAN PEEIOD. 


From tlie best Eoman historians we gather that 
Julius Caosar’s first approach to the British islands 
was in the year 55 before Christ. 

Being wholly unacquainted with those regions, he 
sent forward Caius Yolusenus to examine the coast. 
This officer returned after a cruise of five days; but 
the Britons, having learned the purport of Caesar’s 
preparations, sent ambassadors to offer submission, 
and solicit the friendship of the Eoman people. This 
was promised to them, and they returned home, ac¬ 
companied by Comius, a Gallic prince, and friend of 
Caesar, whose instructions were to sow dissension 
among the British chiefs, and to gain whatever infor¬ 
mation he could, as to the resources of the inhabitants. 
The general himself soon after effected a landing on 
the Kentish coast, but met mth so brave a resistance, 
and found himself so harassed by the ruthless attacks 
of the Britons, that he thought it best to avail himself 
of a momentary panic into which they fell, and con¬ 
cluding a treaty, wherein he granted them very easy 
terms, he returned to the continent. 

But no sooner had the enemy departed, than our 
forefathers forgot the possibility of their return, and. 



HOMAN PEEIOD. 


9 


neglecting to send the promised tribute and hostages, 
were again attacked by Caesar in the following season, 
with much augmented forces. During this campaign, 
the rude, undisciplined valour, and ardent love of 
liberty of the Britons, went near to baffle all the Eoman 
skill and discipline. But the British tribes wanted 
union, and perceiving, at length, the evil effects of 
this, they elected Cassibelaunus, king of the Trino- 
bantes, to be their leader. 

This prince showed himself worthy of the trust 
reposed in him ; he harassed the enemy in all his 
movements, cut off his supplies, and however fre¬ 
quently defeated, still returned to the charge. At 
length, however, his capital (supposed to be St. Al¬ 
bans) was reduced to ashes, and himself compelled 
to solicit peace, which Caesar readily granted, and 
left Britain to return no more. 

Not even a colony was planted in the island, nor 
was a fortress erected on its shores, a fact which of 
itself disproves the self-flattering tale of Caesar; who 
was not a man to be content with a few British cap¬ 
tives to grace his triumph, and a corslet of British 
pearls for the temple of Venus, could he have gained 
more important advantages. Yet these are confes¬ 
sedly the extent of his British acquisitions, and this 
fact bears out the testimony of other Eoman histo¬ 
rians to the truth that Britain still remained uncon¬ 
quered—a truth confirmed by a distinguished Eoman 
writer of the Augustan age, and never successfullv 
disputed. 


10 


liOMAN PEEIOD. 


Nor were the Britons at all disturbed during the 
reign of the first three Boman emperors; it is true 
that Augustus repeatedly threatened to compel the 
tribute, which they never paid, but he ended there. 
Tiberius had no wish to extend the limits of an em¬ 
pire already too unwieldy for good management. Ca¬ 
ligula did indeed pretend to make a descent on Bri¬ 
tain, but is known to have returned to Borne without 
having touched its shores; and it was not until the 
reign of Claudius that the attempt was renewed with 
vigour and ultimate success. 

Much progress had been made in civilization since 
the state of manners described by the earlier chro¬ 
niclers ; many coins of this period have been found, 
struck by Cunobeline, or Cymbeline. War chariots 
are also described as in constant use against the 
Roman legions, and the construction of these supposes 
a great advance in the knowledge of mechanics. 

But we are now to speak of the Claudian invasion; 
this took place A.D. 43. The Roman forces were 
commanded by Aulus Plautius, and one of the most 
distinguished generals of the day: he was ably as¬ 
sisted by Vespasian and his son Titus, both of whom 
were afterwards raised to the Imperial throne. Tlie 
British troops were led by Caractacus, second son of 
Cymbeline, and nephew of Cassibelaunus. 





THE BEITISll CAPTIYE- 


ll 


THE BRITISH CAPTIVE. 

Disunion had long been the bane of the British 
interests, and this was perceived at length even by 
the turbulent chiefs themselves, who all agreed to 
place their forces under the command of Caractacus. 
Ostorius Scapula, the Roman general, to whom the 
British prince found himself opposed, was one whose 
valour was equalled by his prudence and knowledge 
of military tactics. 

Prince Caractacus, upon the subjugation of his own 
tribe, found willing soldiers among other tribes, and 
was enabled to sustain many actions with the Romans, 
some successful, some doubtful—and in so unequal 
a contest, to avoid defeat was as glorious as victory— 
which raised his name high among the Britons, and 
gained for him a celebrity even in Rome itself. His 
well-tried valour was acknowledged by his country¬ 
men, and his presence among them, hailed with en¬ 
thusiasm, gave confidence to all. 

It was the policy of Caractacus to lead the war 
into such districts as were most favourable to his own 
purposes; and his perfect knowledge of the country, 
its resources, and the dispositions of its inhabitants, 
enabled him to do this with an effect that completely 
baffled all the combinations of the Romans, and for 
some time held the result of the struggle doubtful, 
even to their most sanguine commanders. 

A strong line of posts had been established by 
Ostorius between the rivers Hene and Severn; these 


12 


THE BEITISH CAPTIVE. 


it was essential to force; and, after many attacks, 
which it had demanded all the power and readiness 
of the Eoman to repel, Caractacus resolved on one 
mighty effort, on the result of which he saw that the 
very existence of his army must depend. Visiting 
every part of his force, he reminded them of the 
courage invariably displayed by their forefathers, and 



exhorted them to show that they were the worthy 
sons of such men. He described the glories of 
victory, and the miseries of defeat, with equal elo¬ 
quence, and did not conceal from his people that the 
freedom or slavery of their country was to be decided 
by their deeds of that day. Thus incited, the Britons 











TKE BETTISH CAPTIVE. 13 

fought with a desperate courage; hut the superior 
arms, more refined mastery of warlike detail, and in¬ 
exhaustible riches of resource possessed by Borne, 
prevailed. The troops of Caractacus were defeated— 
his brothers surrendered themselves to the enemy, 
into whose hands bis wife and daughter also fell— 
himself escaping with great difficulty, and incited to 
the effort only by the desire of reserving himself for 
further struggles in behalf of his country. 

Buoyed up by this hope, the defeated general took 
refuge with Cartismandua, queen of the Brigantes; 
but this faithless woman betrayed him, and he was led 
prisoner to Borne. Here, the contrast between the 
dejected and terror-stricken looks of his captives from 
other lands, and the noble bearing of the British 
prince, is described by the Boman writers of the day 
as moving the Emperor Claudius in his favour. 

The address he made to the emperor has been 
preserved:— 

“If my fortune had been equal to my birth, 0 
Claudius, then might I have come here, not as a cap¬ 
tive, but as a friend; and you, without descending, 
might have conferred with one royal by descent, 
and the head of many nations. The present state of 
things—glorious to you—is to me not disgraceful. I 
had men, arms, horses, riches ; why is it strange that 
I should be unwilling to resign them ? But if, in¬ 
deed, the power and eminence of the Bomans are to 
be universal, we, as well as others, must submit. Had 
I forthwith yielded, your glory had been less eminent. 


14 


THE BRITISH CAPTIVE. 


my grave would have buried the memory of your 
triumph together witli myself; but now it is in your 



own hands; treat me nobly, and the action will re¬ 
main an everlasting monument of your clemency.” 

The emperor, struck by the force of these remarks, 
caused his chains to be instantly removed—gave 
freedom to his brothers, wife, and daughter at the 
same time, and presenting the whole family to Agrip¬ 
pina, his empress, with marks of high consideration, 
from that moment treated the British prince with the 
Qiost distinguished favour. 

It will amuse you to be told that the empress de¬ 
sired to know from the British ladies, how they could 
endure to live in a “ region of eternal ice and snow, 
where the stars never set, a land altogether heyond the 
limits of the world were the notions then 

entertained in Italy of the British islands. 
















































HOMAN PERIOD. 


15 


ROMAN PERIOD— continued. 

FROM A.D. 53 TO A.D. 403. 

—-» - 

The Eomans were now firmly established in Britain, 
and military and civil officers were appointed to each 
station; but these officers had to contend with many 
difficulties. Aulus Didius, the successor of Ostorius, 
was in continual struggle with the Silures—a tribe 
whose tumultuous dispositions had been further exas¬ 
perated by a declaration of the Emperor Claudius, 
that “ their very name must be rooted out.” They, 
however, successfully defied the Eoman army till the 
arrival of Suetonius, who attacked the Druids in their 
-last stronghold at Mona, now Anglesea, about A.D. 59, 
and destroyed them utterly ; thus uprooting an infiu- 
ence that must for ever have proved fatal to the 
Eoman domination. 

The description of this attack, by Tacitus, is highly 
characteristic of the people of the island :—“ On the 
shore stood a line of very diversified appearance; 
these were armed men in dense array, and women 
running amid them like furies, who, in gloomy attire 
and loose hair hanging down, carried torches before 



IG 


EOMAN PERIOD. 


them. Around were Druids, who, p During forth 
curses and lifting up their hands to heaven, struck 
terror, by the novelty of their appearance, into the 
hearts of the soldiers, who, as if they had lost the use 
of their limbs, exposed themselves motionless to the 
stroke of the enemy. At last, moved by the exhorta¬ 
tions of their leader, and stimulating one another to 
despise a band of women and frantic priests, they 
make their onset, overthrow their opponents, and in¬ 
volve them in the flames which they had themselves 
kindled. A garrison was afterwards placed among 
the vanquished; and the groves consecrated to their 
cruel superstitions were cut down. Dor they held it 
right to smear their altars with the blood of their 
captives, and to consult the will of the gods by the 
quivering of human flesh.” 

Suetonius was recalled from the western shores by 
a revolt of the Iceni, a people supposed to have 
been seated in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridge. The 
cause of this insurrection was the brutal treatment 
the widowed queen Boadicea received from one of the 
Koman officers; and to avenge the atrocious act, the 
Britons, led by their queen, attacked diflerent strong 
positions, London among the rest, and very nigh an¬ 
nihilated the Boman power in the island. 

Suetonius, however, arrived with additional force, 
and in a pitched engagement at a spot north of Lon¬ 
don, which has from the event been called Battle- 
bridge to the present day, entirely routed the natives, 
5},nd Boadicea dying soon after, the Bom an dominion 


ROMAN PERIOD. 


17 


was completely restored. These events occurred 
A.D. 61. 

Nothing of importance ensued until the last year of 
Vespasian, when Julius Agricola became governor of 
Britain; he reformed abuses, and administered justice 
with an impartial hand; he sent out an expedition which 
discovered Britain—hitherto considered a peninsula 
of the continent—to be an island, and drove back the 
warlike Caledonians to their mountains, restraining 
them by a line of entrenchments (forts) from sea to 
sea; for all this he received a triumph from Titus, and 
was not recalled until the reign of Domitian. 

Our next notices of Britain are from A.D. 85 to 
120, in the days of Hadrian, who visited the island 
and raised a rampart of earth against the Scots, from 
the Solway Brith to the German Ocean. The em¬ 
peror had no sooner departed than this was attacked, 
and forced in many places by the northern barbarians. 
In the subsequent reign, that of Antoninus Pius, 
A.D. 188 to 161, the Brigantes revolted, but were 
reduced by Lollius Urbicus, the emperor’s lieu¬ 
tenant. 

Some disturbances arose in the reign of Marcus 
Aurelius, 161 to 180, but these were quelled by Cal- 
purnius Agricola. Continual mutinies and many bat¬ 
tles with the Scots took place under Commodus ; and 
the contest of Clodius Albinus with Septimius Severus 
for the E/Oman empire, having drained the country of 
its troops, the Scots again poured into it in such num¬ 
bers, that Severus. now emperor, resolved, though 

c 


18 


EOMAN PEEIOr 


infirm from age, to come in person for tlie conduct of 11 
the M ar. At this time it M"as that he built the famous li 
wall, stretching wholly across the island, from the .a 
Solway to the Tyne. The Emperor Severus died at a 
York. . i 

In the year 301, the Eoman empire being resigned ■ 
by Diocletian and Maximian, Britain M’'as included in J 
the dominions of Constantins Chlorus, one of their V 
successors, and under the pacific reign of this prince I 
the Christian religion was openly protected. 

Constantins died at York in the year 307, leaving ■ 
the crown to his son, Constantine the Great. I 

This prince was born in Britain, his mother being ; 
the celebrated Helena, herself a British lady, the 
daughter of Coel, Earl of Colchester; under him also 
the Christians enjoyed profound peace. 

The Britons had doubtless made great progress in 
civilization during their long connection Muth the 
Eoman people; but they had departed from the early 
simplicity of their habits, and from the bravery of • 
their ancestors, in almost equal proportions. An old 
historian says, “ Then were the Eoman fashions imi¬ 
tated, and the gown after a M'hile; the incitements 
also and materials of vice: proud buildings, baths, 
and the elegance of banquetting, MEich the more 
foolish sort called civility, but was indeed a secret art 
to prepare them for bondage.” It will presently be 
seen that there is much truth in these remarks: the 
Britons must be soon displayed in the wretched posi¬ 
tion of a nation unable to defend itself. 



ROMAN PERIOD. 


19 


The Eoman power was now fast decaying; torn by 
internal dissensions, Borne could no longer guard her 
provinces, and her propraetors in Britain, scantily 
supplied with troops, could with difficulty make head 
against the northern tribes. In the reign of Valen- 
tinian they had brought their plundering hordes even 
to London, and were with difficulty driven out by 
Theodosius, then propraetor, and father of the emperor 
of that name—this was in or about the year 367. 

The last Boman governor of any note was Stilicho, 
who, being left by the Emperor Theodosius protector 
of his son Honorius, afterwards emperor, did his best 
to preserve the province committed to him, and the 
sinking empire itself from ruin: but he departing, 
perhaps about the year 403, left the country to be 
again the prey of barbarians, and of the equally licen¬ 
tious Boman soldiery. 






















20 


TEE PICTS AND SCOTS. 


THE PICTS AND SCOTS. 

FROM A.D. 403 TO A.D. 571. 

■ ■» ■ 


The Piets were first named in history during the 
reign of Coustantius Chlorus, and they are said to 
have been a Scythian, or Scandinavian people; the 
Scots have been clearly shown to have a common 
origin with the Irish, and were doubtless the aboriginal 
inhabitants of both Scotland and Ireland: the former 
passed over from Ireland about the fifth century. 

We have already alluded to the incursions made by 
these wild tribes in the decline of the Eoman power: 
but Honorius having finally withdrawn such legions 
as he had, up to that time, been able to spare, they 
poured from their skin-covered boats, in swarms upon 
the land, and carrying off the flocks and herds, and 
even the harvests from the field, left the Britons to 
all the miseries of famine. Binding the feeble resist¬ 
ance they could offer of little avail, and that each year 
brought a repetition of this infliction, it was now that 
our fathers wrote the often quoted letter to Rome— 
“ To ^tius, thrice consul, the governor of the Britains: 
The barbarians drive us back to the sea, the sea again 
putteth us back upon the barbarians; thus, between 



TUE PICTS AND SCOTS. 


21 


two kinds of deaths, we are either slaughtered or 
drowned. We are the remnant that survive of the 
Britains, who, besides the enemy, are afflicted by 
famine and mortality, which, at this present extremity, 
rageth in our land.” 

But this mournful appeal brought no aid; the 
Roman empire, itself overrun by the Huns and Yan- 
dals, could lend no assistance, and the Britons, com¬ 
pelled to an effort, elected Yortigern as their civil and 
military chief, in the hope under him to make head 
against their enemy. But their choice was most un¬ 
fortunate; Yortigern was neither wise in council nor 
skilful in war, and at once decided on claiming the 
help of the Saxons—a piratical but very brave people. 
His letter runs thus:—“ AYorthy Saxons, hearing 
the fame of your prowess, the distressed Britons, 
wearied out and overp^essed by a continual invading 
enemy, beseech your aid-; we have a land fertile and 
spacious, which to your commands we now surrender. 
Heretofore we have lived with freedom, under the 
obedience and protection of the Roman empire; next 
to them we know none worthier than yourselves, and 
therefore become suppliants to your valour; leave us 
not below our present enemies, and to aught by you 
imposed, willingly we shall submit.” 

The invitation was accepted; Hengist and Horsa, 
brothers, boasting a descent from Odin, a Saxon god, 
arrived in the Isle of Thanet, A.I). 449; they, defeat¬ 
ing the Piets and Scots at Stamford, were followed by 
Octa and Ebessa ^he son and nephew of Hengist, 


22 


THE PICTS AND SCOTS. 


who immediately occupied the N’orthumhrian coast. 
The British chiefs were now becoming alarmed by the 
attitude these foreigners assumed; but Yortigern, 
having married Bowena, the niece of Hengist, was 
not to be aroused from his state of supineness, even 
by the fact of Hengist having formed his Kentish 
territories into a kingdom, of which he proclaimed 
himself king; Yortimer, the eldest son of Yortigern, 
was therefore called to his unworthy father’s post, 
and, declaring war against the Saxons, maintained it 
bravely until the year 473, when he is said to have 
been poisoned by Bowena. 



The Saxons had now made common cause with the 
Piets and Scots, and the Britons, harassed on all sides 
were subdued or scattered; some took refuge in 















TTTE PICTS AND SCOTS. 


23 


Wales and Cornwall, others settled in that province 
of France called from them Brittany. 

The fine old Castle of Launceston is believed to 
have been constructed by the ancient Britons during 
this stormy period. A long interval elapsed, after 
which they were again called into action by the va¬ 
liant chiefs, Ambrosius and Arthur, under whom 
they gained many victories. Ambrosius fell in battle 
A.D. 508 ; but the struggle was bravely continued by 
Prince Arthur, who succeeded after many years of 
arduous warfare in securing for his countrymen a 
permanent settlement in Wales, from which the Saxons 
could never afterwards dislodge them. The most for¬ 
midable of Arthur’s antagonists was Cerdic, king of 
the West Saxons, whose reign was one protracted 
struggle with the mountaineers. 

New hordes of Saxons were meanwhile constantly 
arriving, and at length, the whole of England being 
overrun by them, the gloomy and cruel superstitions 
of the northern paganism were substituted for the 
pure light of Christianity, and the domination of the 
Anglo-Saxons was fully established. The establish¬ 
ment of the Anglo-Saxons brings us down to the year 
571. But before entering on the history of that 
period I have a story of the Pictish wars to tell you, 
for which we are indebted to Gildas and Bede 


24 


THE YOCAL MOUNTAINS. 



THE YOCAL MOUNTxlINS. 

Oppressed by a tbousand hardships, and already suf¬ 
fering the bitterness of famine, from the attacks 
recently made on them as described above, our fore¬ 
fathers beheld a new horde of barbarians pouring 
down upon their impoverished lands, and for some 
time were on the point of abandoning all defence of 
them, in utter despair. 

The Pictish general, learning from his scouts that 
they had seen a place in the British camp “tricked 
up with boughs,” in preparation for the ceremonies of 
Easter, resolved to attack the devoted people while 
engaged in the observances of their religion, and fall¬ 
ing on them while thus occupied, he had little doubt 
of obtaining a complete victory. But the presence of 
a spy in their camp had been detected by some Chris¬ 
tian priests, who forthwith despatched a boy to watch 




















THE VOCAL MOUNTAINS. 


his movements ; and this agent contrived so well, that, 
being permitted to accompany the barbarian to his 
tents, he there acquired intelligence of the intended 
onslaught, and, getting back to his own people, re¬ 
ported all he had learned. 

A council was then called, and Germanus, one of 
the most influential speakers, declared that, if they 
would put themselves under his guidance, he would 
insure them the victory. The numbers of the enemy 
were so immensely disproportioned to any that the 
Britons could bring against them, as to make this 
promise seem little more than an empty boast; yet, 
as nothing better might be done, it was at length 
agreed that the whole conduct of the affair should be 
committed to Germanus. 

Now Germanus had observed that, directly in the 
path by which the enemy must approach, there lay a 
peculiarly formed hollow, surrounded by hills on every 
side, and giving back every sound uttered within it a 
hundred fold; so that the voice of ten men was that of 
a host. To this place he led a small force, and bade 
all quietly rest on their arms until he should give 
them the signal for movement; they were then to re¬ 
peat three times the word they should hear him utter, 
with all the force they could muster, and at once fall 
on the enemy. He next stationed watchmen, who 
gave him signals of the barbarians’ progress ; these he 
permitted to approach the spot best fitted for his pur¬ 
pose, which they did, unsuspicious of the ambush laid 
for them. When they had reached the point he 


26 


THE VOCAL MOIJNTATVS. 


thoiiglit best calculated for the effect be meditated, 
G-ermanus exclaimed, “Hallelujah !” His people re¬ 
peated the crj three times with their utmost force; 
the reverberating hills gave back the echoes with a 
noise so astounding, that the Piets, believing them¬ 
selves opposed by a multitude innumerable, were in¬ 
stantly thrown into confusion, not stopping to see by 
how small a number they were attacked ; and, as cow'- 
ardly wolves pursued by hunters, all fled in dismay. 



Their total destruction was the consequence; and 
for that time, our fathers gained breathing space, and 
a large portion of booty. 

Urgent was their need of this respite; and pro¬ 
foundly grateful were the earnest thanksgivings to 
Almighty God that arose from the band of Britons 
who had stationed themselves in that fortunate defile 
of “The Yocal Mountains.*^ 



THE ANGLO-SAXON MONARCHIES. 


27 


THE ANGLO-SAXON MONAECHIES. 

FROM A.D. 571 TO A.D. 596. 

—♦- 


The Grerman tribes inhabiting the north of Germany, 
and anciently known as Suevi, were afterwards called 
Saxons, Jutes, and Angles. The Saxons were the 
most numerous and powerful; but the hordes that 
emigrated to Britain were composed of individuals 
from all three of these tribes; they are described as 
brave, high-spirited, lovers of freedom, averse to all 
effeminacy, and singularly beautiful in form and coun¬ 
tenance. 

The various bodies of Saxons, Jutes, and Angles, 
landing at different periods in Britain, and occupying 
unequal portions of territory, were at length formed 
into seven kingdoms of more or less importance; 
these, when considered as a whole, are called the 
Heptarchy. Each state was governed by its own 
laws, and acknowledged the authority of its own 
sovereign only; but on some occasions the chiefs of 
the Heptarchy, acting in concert, placed themselves 
under the command of one of their number, chosen 
by themselves, and this leader was called the Bret- 
walda. 





28 


THE ANHLO-SAXOH MOHABCHIES. 


This custom of the Anglo-Saxon chieftains hasB 
been rarely alluded to by elementary writers on his-M 
tory; but to it may fairly be attributed the ascen-W 
dancy afterwards gained by Egbert, who did littleB 
more than make the office of Bretwalda hereditary,* 
instead of elective: the seven kingdoms composing* 
the Saxon Heptarchy were :— ■ 

1st. Kent—containing Kent and part of Sussex, and founded 9 
by Hengist, a.d. 458; its capital was Canterbury. ■ 

2nd. Sussex—containing Surrey and a part of Sussex, and* 
founded by Ella, a.d. 491; its capital, Chicbesterr m 

3rd. Wessex—comprising the coast from Sussex to the Land’s ■ 
End in Cornwall, founded by Cerdic, a.d. 510; its capital, 9 
Winchester. m 

4th. East Saxony or Essex—including Essex, Middlesex, and I 
pai’t of Herts, founded by Erchenwin, a.d. 527; its capi> | 
tal, London, 

5th. Northumberland—divided into Deira and Bernicia. It | 
lay between the Tyne and Humber and Tyne and Forth, 
was founded by Ida, a.d. 547, and had for its capitals 
York and Bamburgh. i 

6th. Mercia—containing most of the midland counties, founded • 
by Crida, a.d, 522; capital, Leicester. 

7th. East Anglia, Suffolk, Norfolk, and Cambridge, founded by 
Uffa, A.D. 575; capital, Dunwich. 

The kingdom of Kent, though among the smallest 
of the Heptarchy, is remarkable, not only as being the 
first founded by the Saxons, but also as being the first 
whence the darkness of Paganism was banished by 
the beneficent light of Christianity: the manner in 
which this event was brought about shall be related 
to you in the story of— 


THE INTEODUCTION OF CHEISTIANITT. 20 

THE INTEODHCTION OF CHEISTIANITY. 

The subject itself, which is so deeply interesting to 
every Christian, exhibits so much romance and splen¬ 
dour in the detail, that it forms also a beautiful histo¬ 
rical picture. 

One of the old chroniclers most aptly says, “By 
this time, like one who has set out on his way by 
night, and travelled through a region of smooth oi 
idle dreams, our history now arrives on the confines, 
where daylight and truth meet us with a clear dawn, 
representing to our view, though at a far distance, 
true colours and shapes.” 

The Saxons had divided England into no less than 
seven absolute kingdoms, until Ethelbert of Kent, 
taking advantage of the dissensions that sprang up 
amongst those petty kings, by degrees brought all 
other monarchies between Kent and the Humber 
under subjection to himself. He wished, however, to 
strengthen himself by a foreign alliance, and suc¬ 
ceeded in obtaining the hand of the Princess Bertha, 
daughter of the King of France, and a Christian. 
Now the King of France was a Christian, and yet 
did not hesitate to bestow his beautiful Bertha as a 
wife upon the brave King Ethelbert, who promised on 
his part to permit her the free exercise of her reli¬ 
gion, under the care and instruction of Letardus, a 
bishop, sent by her parents to England with her. 
The Northumbrians, at that time—and indeed the 



30 


TKE introduction of CHRISTIANITY 


wicked practice continued long after—used to sell tke. 
fairest of tkeir children as slaves into a foreign land. 
Two youths of singular beauty were, amongst others, 
sold in this barbarous manner, and conveyed to Eome, j 
where Grregory, then Archdeacon of that city, and j 



BRITISH YOUTHS BEEORE GREGORY. 


afterwards Pope, chanced to see them exposed in the 
slave market. Struck by the freshness and comeliness 
of their appearance, he inquired who they were, and 
he was told that they were Angli, of the province 
Deira, and by religion Pagans, This, Grregory very 
sincerely deplored, and, it is said, framed this inge¬ 
nious allusion to what he had heard—that the Angli, 
so like angels, should be snatched De ira —that is, 
says the chronicle, “from the wrath of God”—to 
sing hallelujah! 

Gregory used his best endeavours to send mission¬ 
aries immediately to teach those fair and beautiful 





















THE INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY. 31 

islanders that there was hut one God, and would 
himself have visited England, if he had been per¬ 
mitted ; but so many difficulties were thrown in his 
way, that it was not until after the lapse of four 
years, having himself attained the papal chair, that he 
was able to accomplish his Christian purpose. Those 
whom he had sent on the mission became discouraged 
by the reports they heard of the fierceness and vio¬ 
lence of the people towards whom they journeyed, 
and were so faint-hearted even in what they believed 
a good work, as to pause, and write to Gregory, en¬ 
treating leave to return home, and not be sent on a 
journey so full of hazard to so fierce and infidel a 
nation. But Gregory was not to be dissuaded from 
his pious and apostolic purpose; in answer, he ex¬ 
horted them not to shrink back from so good a work, 
but cheerfully to go on, in the strength of that divine 
assistance which never is denied to those who put 
their trust therein. Thus encouraged, the Abbot 
Austin, (for so he was ordained over the rest,) landed 
with his assistants and followers, in number about 
forty, on the isle of Thanet. 

Many were the rumours which this singular inva¬ 
sion caused to be spread throughout the country ; but 
Austin despatched a message to Ethelbert the king 
—a wondrous message, that he came from Borne to 
proffer heaven and eternal happiness, in the know¬ 
ledge of a God other than the Saxons knew—which 
message filled the king and his nobles with amaze¬ 
ment ; but the Queen Bertha felt a thrill of joy 


32 THE iNTRODUOTioisr or Christianity. 

through her heart, and she trembled with hope, for 
she loved her husband, the royal Ethelbert, and had 
often prayed secretly for that conversion which she 
dared not speak of. But now the time had come 
when she felt assured that he and his nobles would at 
least hear the truth, and she could neither take food 
nor rest, but wearied heaven with prayers. 

Ethelbert was of a liberal and princely mind: he 
sent a dignified message to Austin, desiring him to 
remain where he had landed, until he should have 
considered this matter, and at the same time com¬ 
manded his servants to provide the strangers with 
hospitable entertainment. All this raised hope in the 
gentle bosom of the royal lady, who already under¬ 
stood the value of “ the new religionand when, 
after mature deliberation, Ethelbert determined to 
invite Austin and his followers to a conference, the 
Queen Bertha saw the messengers depart for that 
purpose with many prayers, oflered up in the secrecy 
and silence of her own chamber, but not less likely on 
that account to reach the throne of divine grace. 

King Ethelbert decided on meeting these Bom an 
dignitaries in the open air, yielding to the effect of an 
old superstition which taught that all spells, if they 
should use any to deceive him, would thus become 
unavailable. The king was surrounded by all the 
pomp and attendants befitting his state, a brave and 
noble retinue, consisting not only of the wisdom, but 
the fiower and beauty of his court, making a goodly 
array—the light hair, delicate complexions, and bright 


THE INTRODUCTION OF CHRISTIANITY. 33 

blue eyes of tlie younger nobles forming a decided 
contrast to tbe black haired, black eyed, and swarthy 
southerns, who advanced with all the magnificence of 
their church, having long cast aside what appears to 
me the more dignified and more simple demeanour and 
habits of the primitive Christians. 



When perfect stillness pervaded the multitude 
that watched around the king, the missionaries moved 
forward, advancing for their standard and emblem a 
silver cross, that appeared in the bright sunshine like 
a glory; upon this was placed the painted image of 
our Saviour. The Pagans gazed upon the mystic sign 
in astonishment not unmingled with awe, which was 
increased when, as they advanced, Austin and the 
other holy men sung and chanted the solemn litanies, 
which wrought in Ethelbert more suspicion, perhaps, 
that they used enchantments ; till, sitting down, as the 


D 
















f 


34 THE INTEODUCTION OF CHEISTIANITT. 

king graciously desired them, they there preached to ] 
him, and to all the assembly, the glad tidings of salva- 1 
tion, which were aptly and quickly translated by the 
interpreters they had procured in France. Having j 
heard them attentively, the king thus answered:— J 
“ Fair, indeed, and ample, are the promises which ! 
ye bring, and such things as have in them the ap- j 
pearance of much good: yet, such as being new and " 
uncertain, I cannot hastily assent to quitting the re¬ 
ligion which, from my ancestors, with all the English 
nation, so many years I have retained. Nevertheless, 
because ye are strangers, and have endured so long a 
journey to impart to us the knowledge of things which - 
I persuade me you believe to be the truest and the 
best, ye may be sure we shall not recompense you 
with any molestation, but shall provide rather, how 
we may friendliest entertain ye; nor do we forbid 
whom ye can, by preaching, gain to your belief.’* 

There is something peculiarly dignified and touching 
in the pagan king’s reply : how candid and frank the 
avowal “that such tilings have in them the appear¬ 
ance of much good.” How naturally, yet how 
gracefully expressed the opinion, “that, as such 
things being new and uncertain, I cannot hastily 
assent to quitting the religion which, from my ances¬ 
tors, with all the English nation, so many years I 
have retained.” How beautiful the hospitality ex¬ 
tended, “ because ye are strangers,” and how perfect 
the liberality in this pagan prince, “ nor do we 
forbid whom ye can, by preaching, gain to your 




THE INTEOHUCTION OE CHEISTIANITT. 


35 


belief.” Truly Etlielbert was worthy of his crown— 
worthy the duty, prayers, and affection of his queen— 
worthy the homage of his people. 

Well might tears of joy and gratitude fill the eyes 
of Bertha—that royal lady—when she was informed 
by Ethelbert of his resolve. Nor were these mere 
words of courtesy, but the king allotted them resi¬ 
dence in his chief city, Canterbury, and made princely 
provision for their maintenance, with free leave to 
preach their doctrine where they pleased. This free¬ 
dom being really granted them, they set earnestly 
about the work of conversion, offering an admirable 
example by good and pious living, and gaining over 
many to the Christian creed. 

Now, there stood without the city, on the east side, 
an old temple, whither Bertha, the queen, went usually 
to pray, and requested, and gained permission, that 
Austin should preach therein. After the preaching 
succeeded many baptisms, and open exercise of divine 
worship. But still brighter days were at hand; the 
king himself, after much deliberation, became a Chris¬ 
tian : this came to pass within a year after Austin’s 
arrival. The conversion of Ethelbert spread the name 
of Christianity throughout the land; some reasoned 
upon its doctrine, and therefore became converted, 
others were satisfied to follow the faith of the court— 
the king, meantime, suffering no means to be used, ex¬ 
cept those worthy of the end, and going hand in hand 
with his gentle queen in all acts of charity and grace. 

At the instigation of Austin, he built St. Peter’s 




86 THE INTHODHCTION OF CHEISTIANlTr. 

church at Canterbury, and the cathedral at Roches* 
ter; and Bede says that the cathedral of St. Paul’s, 
in London, was founded at the joint expense of 
Ethelhert and Sehert the king of EsseX'—great works 
to be achieved in the lifetime of one man. He died 
at an advanced age, and his name deserves honour 
and respect. He not only adopted the Christian re¬ 
ligion into his kingdom, but favoured civilization in 
all things, and gave laws and statutes to his people, 
written with the advice of his sagest councillors, and 
in the English tongue, which statutes were observed 
long after he had been gathered to his fathers. 
The prayers of his queen for his conversion were abun¬ 
dantly answered, and her benevolence and good deeds 
only ended with her existence. 


TUB ANGLO-SAXOTv^ MONARCHIES. 


37 


THE ANG-LO-SAXON MONARCHIES 

— continued. 

FROM A.D. 596 TO A.D. 826. 


The second kingdom of the Heptarchy, being that of 
Sussex, or the South Saxons, endured 113 years only : 
its second king, Cissa, founded the capital, Chiches¬ 
ter, and was succeeded by Athelwold, in whose reign 
the light of the Gospel beamed on this kingdom also. 
Athelwold was converted, Queen Ebba being a 
Christian and the daughter of a Christian. The king¬ 
dom was subdued by Ina, prince of the "West Saxons, 
and merged into a province of the last named king¬ 
dom, A.D. 601. 

The third Saxon kingdom, Wessex, received the 
light of Christianity under its sixth king, Kingils, who 
is said to have founded a bishopric at Dorchester. 
A tragical story is related of its sixteenth monarch, 
Birthrick, who is said to have died by poison, prepared 
by his queen, Ethelburga, for a person who had offended 
iier; this unhappy woman afterwards died in great 
misery. 

The fourth kingdom, Essex, was redeemed from 
Paganism under its third king, Sebert, who, as we 



38 


THE ANGLO-SAXOy MONAECHIES 


have already mentioned, aided by Ethelbert, first built 
the cathedral of St. Paurs, London, on the site of a 
Temple to Diana. Sebba, the ninth king of Essex, 
after a peaceful reign of thirty years, “took upon 
him,” says Baker, “ a religious habit, in the monas¬ 



tery of St. Paul, London, where dying, his body was 
intumbed in a coffin of gray marble, the cover coaped, 






















EDWIN, THE EXILE OE DEIEA. 


39 


and as yet standetli in tlie nortli wall of the chancel 
of the same church.” • This kingdom became a pro¬ 
vince of Wessex, A.D. 827. 

The fifth kingdom, Northumberland, endured 370 
years under twenty-three kings; of the first two, 
nothing is recorded, except that they built the city of 
Bamburgh. St. Cuthbert died in 687 at the abbey of 
Lindisfarne, and was there buried: in 876, a body of 
Danish adventurers ravaging the country, the priests, 
with the abbot at their head, resolved to leave the 
island, bearing with them the remains of their beloved 
saint, as well as the sacred vessels, shrines, and other 
valuables, to Dunholme, and there established their 
residence; from this settlement, it appears, the city of 
Durham took its rise. It is of the reign of Adalfrid, 
or Ethelfrid,.the seventh king, that I mean to treat in 
my next story: but, before commencing it, I may as 
well remark that, under its last king, Oswald, this 
monarchy ‘‘ yielded to the protection of Egbert, king 
of the West Saxons,” an event that took place A.D. 
826. 

There are many narratives in the old chronicles, 
which, whether the entire story be true or not, con¬ 
tain matter of considerable interest ; and among 
these is 

THE STOEY OE EDWIN, THE EXILE OE 

DEIEA. 

Edwin, the rightful king of Deira (a division of 
Northumbria) had been from his childhood a fugitive 




40 


EPWIIS’’, THE EXILE JF DEIRA. 


and an outcast from liis throne and his country. Year H 
after year he had wandered with the few friends that || 
neither want nor danger could rend from him, seeking H 
safety and protection in every British kingdom hut ^ 
his own. The influence of his sister’s husband, the ■ 
usurper of his hereditary rights, was universally felt ■ 
and acknowledged; and whoever was bold enough to m 
afford him even a temporary shelter, found a powerful ^ 
enemy in his kinsman, Adelfrid, who, having dispos- I 
sessed him of his crown, sought by every means to | 
deprive him of his life. I 

His wanderings, for he was often a dweller in the 
woods and on the rocky mountains of Wales; the I 



iiardships he had encountered; the perpetual watch¬ 
ings by which alone he preserved his life; the warlike 
habits he had acquired, by the frequent skirmishes of 
his party with the hirelings of his enemy, as well as 


















EDWIN, THE EXILE OE DEIEA. 


41 


with the various bauds of freebooters that infested the 
country, had made him careless of danger, hardy of 
frame, intelligent, energetic, and brave; while his 
occasional residence in the courts of many monarchs, 
and the knowledge of his royal birth, and high claims, 
had given to his manners a degree of refinement, and 
to his mind a consciousness of superiority, which at 
once spoke the descendant of a race of kings. His 
fine form, his gentle demeanour, and his misfortunes 
had gained him many friends: the tyrant by whom he 
had been deposed, therefore, felt and knew him to he 
dangerous. 

Alarmed at the exaggerated accounts which at 
times reached him of the prowess of the young prince, 
and dreading the influence of his name and of his 
cause, Adelfrid denounced the bitterest threats of 
vengeance against any who protected him ; and for a 
long period the fugitive had only met with powerless 
friends, or enemies who sought, under the garb of 
friendship, to betray him. At length he was induced 
to seek an asylum at the court of E-edwald, the Uffinga 
of East Anglia. 

Into this state Christianity liad been recently in¬ 
troduced ; but it had to struggle with the darkness 
of Paganism, and was strenuously opposed by the 
people, whose ideas of glory, and whose warlike habits, 
were altogether at variance with the mild principles 
which, the missionaries from Home to Britain then 
taught. The Uffinga, however, was so far convinced 
of their truth and excellence, as to foster their growth; 




42 EDWIN, THE EXILE OF DEIRA. 

and, although he set up a Christian altar in a temple B 
dedicated to the deities of his country, and mingled ] 
prayers to the living God with sacrifices to idols under 
the same roof: even by this act, he enabled his sub- , 
iects to draw comparisons and to form conclusions. , 
The light of our blessed religion was, therefore, gra- ' 
dually but surely spreading over the kingdom of East 
Anglia. 

Edwin was welcomed with sincerity by the Effinga 
to the East Anglian court; a pledge of safety was 
given him ; apartments were assigned him in the 
palace; and the prince was happy in retiring to a 
home from his wretched and dangerous wanderings. 

By his conciliating manners, his military skill and 
courage, and his graceful address, he succeeded in gain¬ 
ing the love and esteem of the monarch and his queen, 
with that of the chief ofidcers of their court. But his 
hopes and prospects were soon again clouded; for, 
within a short time, ambassadors of Deira arrived at 
the court of the Effinga, entreating that, as a deadly 
enemy to King Adelfrid sojourned and dwelt fami¬ 
liarly with all his company in the kingdom of East 
Anglia, he might be delivered up to the embassy or 
put to death. The message was accompanied by rich 
gifts of silver and gold, and high offers of service and 
amity to the Effinga ; but they prevailed nothing, and 
were returned. A second time the ambassadors ap¬ 
peared at the court of Eedwald, and brought with 
them bribes still more tempting; and again they were 
rejected. After a while, the ambassadors arrived a . 




EDWIN, THE EXILE OF DEIRA. 43 

third time, bringing with them still higher offers of 
wealth, and then they bade the East Anglian monarch 
decide between the gold and the sword of the power¬ 
ful sovereign of Deira and Bernicia. 

Edwin, gazing from the lattice of his apartment, 
beheld the ambassadors from his enemy enter the 
court-yard of his host; he lingered, in full confidence 
that they would be dismissed as they came. The 
hours passed heavily, and still the messengers com 
tinned in the audience room of the king; for he hesi¬ 
tated to return an answer which he dreaded would be 
his destruction, and after a contest with honour and 
generosity, his fears yielded; he knew the power and 
the savage nature of Adelfrid, and he retained his 
ambassadors until he had formed the resolution, either 
to deliver up or put to death the exiled and persecuted 
prince. 

Edwin was sitting in his chamber, sadly musing on 
the uncertainty of his fate, which left him so utterly 
at the will and mercy of his enemies. In the palace 
of his host, to which his attention was naturally 
drawn, all was silent as the grave ; behind him was the 
outer gate, unguarded by a single sentinel. Looking 
towards it, he thought of the freedom that lay beyond 
that barrier, and believed he could distinguish the 
sounds of familiar voices. He knew that his sworn 
friends were within a short distance ; that escape was 
easy; that pursuit was impossible, until he was far 
beyond its reach; and he was strongly tempted to fly 
from his doubtful friends and certain enemies, once 


44 


EDWIN, THE EXILE OE DEIRA. 


more to trust his safety to the forest and the moun¬ 
tains. He left his chamber accordingly, and de¬ 
scended to the court below. 

The wind passing through the trees, bearing down 
their branches, that rose again with a low moaning*^3 
sound, and sliaking from their leaves the heavy drops * 
of rain; the silence and the gloom that pervaded all r 
around; and above all, the uncertainty of his fate, 
made a momentary dread come over him, which was ft 
increased when he recollected the various legendary 
tales that superstition had connected with the spot. 
One old tree had been consecrated by the ancient 
Druids, and was still considered as an object of vene¬ 
ration. It was believed that, around its base, the de¬ 
parted priests were permitted to assemble and repeat 
their sacrifices; and few could pass it, even in the 
daylight, without pausing to pay some tribute of re¬ 
spect to those whom they imagined its guardians. 

Edwin was brave, and he had too often confronted 
danger in many forms to dread it under any ; but the 
new belief that had found its way into Eedwald’s 
court, where it had to struggle with the horrors and 
the bitterest opposition of Paganism, had left his mind 
in that uncertain state that “halteth between two 
opinions,” which made him now shudder when refiec- 
tion was forced upon him. He paced round the tree, 
glancing occasionally through the gate over the wide 
plain, and endeavouring to recollect the few observa¬ 
tions he had heard from the strangers who had brought 
those new doctrines into Britain ; at length he sat 


EDWIN, THE EXILE OE DEIEA.. 


45 


down on the large knotted roots, and betook himself 
to further reflection ou the course most judicious 
to be adopted. 

He had been seated for some minutes, while a va¬ 
riety of thoughts crowded upon him, when, suddenly 
raising his head, he beheld before him a strange figure, 
whose garb of perfect white was powerfully contrasted 
with the surrounding darkness. Edwin rose, shook 
ofi* the rain-drops from his mantle, andjanconsciously 
laid his hand on his sword; but when he saw the mild 
and dignified attitude of his visitor, he resumed his 
seat, and with a mixed feeling of superstitious awe, 
and of anger at being intruded upon at such a mo¬ 
ment, gazed upon him in silence. 

The stranger stood for a few moments, but spoke 
no word; at length he said, “ Why at this dark hour 
of the midnight, when other men are within, and in 
their deep sleep—why sit ye sorrowful and alone upon 
the stone abroad, watching ?” 

“ If I pass the night within doors or without, what 
have you to do therewith ?” answered the prince. 

“I think not,” replied the stranger, “but that I 
know the cause of your heaviness, and why you watch 
here in this gloomy place, at this solitary hour. I 
know you, and therefore know I well the danger you 
dread.” 

“Shall I tell him?” he continued, in a low moaning 
voice, as if he communed with himself, rather than 
addressed a hearer; “ shall I tell him of one who was 
sought by his enemy in the wilderness of Engedi, and 






EDIVIN, THE EXILE OF DEIEA. 


4G 


pursued among the rocks where the wild goats had, 
their dwellings; who was sheltered by the accursed, 
and who begged a morsel of bread from the hireling, 
and from the heathen a drop of water, for he was 
hungered and athirst ? Yet was he the Lord’s 
anointed, and him the Lord raised to be king over 
the thousands and tens of thousands of Israel’s chil¬ 
dren ; but no, the clay must be softened before it can 
be moulded.” ^ Then turning again to the prince, he 
said, “ Tell me now, Edwin of Deira, what reward 
would you give to him who should persuade King 
Eedwald that he should neither hurt you himself, nor 
deliver you up to your merciless enemies ?” 

“If you know me,” said Edwin, “you know that 
the means of recompense are not with me; but such 
reward as one who is a prince in all but wealth and 
lands, could give, would I give for so great a ser¬ 


vice. 


5) 


“ ’Tis well,” said the stranger; and again he 
paused, and looked earnestly on the countenance of 
the young prince. “ ’Tis well,” he repeated; “ and 
now tell me if, besides all this, he shall warrant you 
that you shall be a king; that all your enemies shall 
be vanquished, and that not only so, but that you 
shall excel in worth and power all that have gone be¬ 
fore you, all who have ever swayed the sceptre of any 
British kingdom—tell me, what then ?” 

“ What then !” exclaimed Edwin, rising and looking 
boldly and joyfully into the stranger’s face—“ Doubt 
not,” he continued, more tranquilly, “ but that at all 


EDTVIN, THE EXILE OF DEIllA. 


47 


times, and in all places, T would be ready to show bim 
such gratitude as such a king should feel.” 

“ ’Tis well,” again said the stranger, and paused 
for a few moments; he spoke a third time—“But 
now tell me if, besides all this, he w'ho now showeth 
you truly and unfeignedly that which surely and un¬ 
doubtedly you shall hereafter be, can give you better 
counsel—counsel more profitable for your soul’s health 
and salvation than was heard by any of your parents 
or ancestors—tell me, would you hearken to his whole¬ 
some sayings, and obey them ?” 

Edwin answered eagerly, “ Surely would I listen 
and obey the counsel of him who should deliver me 
from the straights and dangers that now surround me, 
and afterwards exalt me to be king over mine own 
country; surely wmuld I listen to such a one, for his 
counsel must be good.” 

“ ’Tis well,” repeated the stranger, and again he 
regarded longer and with more attention the counte¬ 
nance of Edwin—full of animation and hope as it had 
now become. “’Tis well; and when these things 
have happened, remember the answer I have heard 
and taken; remember that your promise be fulfilled 
and accomplished ; remember well this time, and this 
our talk; and remember this^ which shall be for a sign 
between us.” So saying, he laid his right hand on 
the head of the young prince. 

When Edwin raised his eyes, the stranger was gone. 
A moment had scarcely passed; he felt as if the hand 
still gently pressed his brow, yet he saw no one. He 


IS EDWIN, THE EXILE OF DF.IBA. 

I 

gazed anxiously around, and listened to hear some de- f 
parting step ; he beheld nought but the boughs of the ■ 
oak that bent on all sides of him, and heard only the |i 
wind among its branches. 

“Edwin, Prince Edwin!” It was the voice of a 
young earl, his friend; and it was loud and fearless. 
Oswald drew near, and grasped his friend’s hand, then 
bent his knee, looked upwards and exclaimed, “Now 
blessed be the good Being who prompted our king to 
virtue; blessed be the Unknown Grod.” 

“ The Unknown God murmured a voice near 
them. The friends started, and Oswald looked terri¬ 
fied around—“ Surely,” said he, “ ’twas but the echo 
of the decayed tree ; there is no one near us: but let 
us hasten, and take counsel together within.” 

“Who is this Unknown Ood?” inquired Edwin; 
there was no answer, and he passed on. The young 
earl then briefly explained to the prince that the 
queen had joined wdth many nobles, in eifectually 
reasoning with the king against the infamy of deli¬ 
vering up their royal guest to certain destruction; 
that the Uffinga had resolved to preserve his honour, 
and to despise equally the gold and the threats of 
Adelfrid, wdiose ambassadors had received their final 
answer, and were to leave the palace of Redwald at 
daybreak. 

Edwin and his friend sat together, in the prince’s 
chamber, until the grey twilight had passed from the 
face of the earth ; and the morning had risen calmly 
and beautifully after the last day’s storm. They re- 




EDWIN, THE EXILE OE DETRA. 


49 


garded the change in nature as a type of the wan¬ 
derer’s destiny; and while they spoke of the gloom 
that was gone, it was in happy anticipation of the 
sunshine that was approaching. The trampling ot 
horses beneath the outer wall soon announced the 
departure of the ISTorthumbrian ambassadors from the 
East Anglian court, aud the friends retired to rest. 

When Edwin rose from refreshing slumbers and 
cheering dreams, he found that King Kedwald and 
his principal Thanes were assembled in the council- 
room of the palace, and he soon ascertained the sub¬ 
ject of their deliberations. The Uffinga knew that 
he had now no choice between war and destruction; 
and the ambassadors were scarcely gone when he 
summoned his officers together, explained to them the 
part he had taken, and called on them for assistance. 
So much loved was the exiled prince, and so deeply 
hated was his oppressor, that an immense army was 
raised to avenge the one and to punish the other, 
almost as soon as the messengers had arrived at the 
tyrant’s court. 

King Kedwald knew that if he gave time to his 
enemy, the superior force and resources of the North¬ 
umbrian monarch must ensure his success. He 
therefore instantly marched his army towards the 
Humber. Adelfrid advanced to meet him; but with 
an army hastily collected, ill provided, and discon¬ 
tented. A battle was fought on the east side of the 
river Idel, in Nottinghamshire, where a victory was 
obtained over the tyrant of Deira, who was killed 

E 



50 EDWIN, THE EXILE OF DEIHA. 

almost at the commencement of the encounter. In 
this engagement Edwin held a distinguished post, and 
before the soldiers of his friend, as well as those of 
his own hereditary kingdom, conducted himself with 
so much courage and gallant bearing, that his op¬ 
pressor had no sooner fallen, than the battle termi¬ 
nated, and Edwin was proclaimed on the one side, 
and welcomed on the other, as monarch of Deira and 
Bernicia. Thus, according to the prophetic words of 
the strange visitor who communed with him under 
the old oak tree, was Edwin not only saved from the 
malice of his deadly enemy, but given the crown of 
N orthumberland. 

For some years Edwin governed his kingdom with 
justice and integrity, reclaiming his subjects from the 
licentious courses to which they had been accus¬ 
tomed, and giving an example of virtue and upright¬ 
ness to the other monarchs of the island: so that 
“ such was the peace and tranquillity throughout all 
Britannie, that a weak woman might have walked 
with her new born babe over all the island, even from 
sea to sea, without any danger.” But still Edwin 
was not a Christian ; he had listened to the mission¬ 
aries who preached the faith of Christ, and he had 
reflected upon its nature: yet, although he ofiered no 
sacriflces to his idols, he hesitated concerning the new 
creed, and doubted whether it were holier and more 
worthy of the Deity, than the service of those gods 
whom he worshipped aftei’ the manner of his fore¬ 
fathers. 


EDWIN, THE EXILE OE DEIRA. 51 

After some years of a peaceful and happy reign, he 
obtained in marriage Edilberga, a princess of Kent: 
into her family and kingdom the light of Christianity 
had been successfully introduced. She was accom¬ 
panied to her husband’s court by Paulinus, one of the 
earliest of the missionaries to Britain. 

One day, when Edwin was sitting alone in his 
chamber, and brooding over the important truths that 
had been pressed upon his attention, this Paulinus 
entered and approached him. He stretched forth his 
hand, and laid it upon the head of the King, while he 
said in an impressive, but gentle voice, “ Does the 
monarch of Northumberland remember this sign ?” 

The King started from his seat as if a spirit had 
addressed him, and fell on his knees, while his eyes 
were fixed on the missionary as if endeavouring to 
recognize in his strange garb and his solemn counte¬ 
nance and bearing, the visitor who had so mysteri¬ 
ously accosted him under the old oak tree, during his 
exile in the kingdom of East Anglia. "While he thus 
gazed and trembled, the missionary pressed his hand 
more firmly on his brow, and repeated the question, 
—“ Does the monarch of Northumberland remember 
this sign ?” “ I do well remember it,” replied the 

King, in an agitated and broken voice. 

“ And does the King remember the pledge he gave 
when this sign was passed ?” “ So surely as I re¬ 

member the one, do I remember the other!” 

“ Behold then,” said Paulinus, raising him from the 
ground, “ by the bountiful hand and power of our 


52 


EDWIN, THE EXILE OF DEIHA. 


Lord and Grod, have you escaped the rage of your 
most deadly enemy; behold, also, by his grace and 
mercy have you obtained rule over your kingdom. 
Now, have not the promises made to you by the mes¬ 
senger of the Almighty been truly and faithfully ful¬ 
filled ?” “Most truly and faithfully!” replied the 
King, and again he knelt and bowed his head. 

“ Bemember now,” continued the missionary, “ the 
promise which you then gave, and let your promise 
also be fulfilled. And He who so delivered you, shall 
deliver you from greater enemies and exalt you to 
higher honours: even to the saving you from eternal 
misery, and giving you to reign with him in heaven— 
his eternal kingdom.” “I do remember my pro¬ 
mise,” said the King; “ and now let me hear of that 
good and merciful Being, by whom I have been so 
blessed. Tell me of that God of whom I have heard 
so vaguely: but of whom I have dreamt in my 
dreams by night, and dwelt upon in my meditations 
by day; and let me be a true believer in that living 
God, that I and my people may be His worshippers!” 

That day and the next the King and the missionary 
remained closeted; the divine book was opened: its 
hallowed words were read, and the King no longer 
doubted the truths it contained. The Anglo-Saxon 
kings, however, did not possess despotic authority, 
but were formed to act by the advice of their nobles. 
Edwin therefore assembled his council, and craved 
advice on the important question. Each was asked 
by the king to declare his mind ; and we are told the 


EDWIN, THE EXILE OF DEIEX. 


53 


first wlio spoke was Coifl the high-priest, who acknow¬ 
ledged the utter vanity of the idols which he served ; 
and he, finding the opinion of the council to agree 
with his own, it was resolved to adopt the new faith; 
and within a short period the king, with the prin¬ 
cipal officers of his court, was baptized, besides a vast 



concourse of his people—so vast, that the ceremony 
employed the rejoicing and grateful Paulinus six-and- 
thirty days, from sun-rise until sun-set; commencing 
on the Easter Sunday of the year 627, in a church 
hastily built of wood, in the city of York, and dedi¬ 
cated to the apostle Saint Peter. 

Such is the history of the introduction of Chris¬ 
tianity into the Saxon kingdom of Northumberland, 
and such the history of its first Chriatian King. 

























51 


THE AN-GLO-SAXON MO-N-ARCHTES, 


THE ANGLO-SAXON MONAECHIES 

— continued. 


The sixth kingdom, Mercia, was for thirty years 
under the dominion of one of the most ferocious sup¬ 
porters of Paganism, namely, Penda; hut the son of 
that monarch, Peada, was converted to the true faith 
by the instrumentality of Elfred, his wife’s brother, 
and Christianity became the religion of the people. 
This monarch founded “ a faire church at Medeshamp- 
stead, now called Peterborough,” but was assassinated 
while solemnizing the festival of Easter, about the 
year 659. 

The eleventh of the Mercian sovereigns was Offa, 
'who was elected by the nobles, clergy, and delegates 
of the people, in a Wittena-gemot, or Parliament, 
convened for the purpose, A.D. 785. During the 
vigorous administration of this enterprising prince, 
many of the lesser states were rendered tributary to 
the Mercians. The Britons, who had encroached on 
parts of Wessex and Mercia, were driven back to 
their mountains, and Offa threw up a rampart, the 
better to repress their incursions, which rampart ex¬ 
tended from the mouth of the Wye to the river Dee, 


THE ANGLO-SAXON MONAECHIES. 55 

and of which vestiges remain even to this day. During: 
one of these incursions a memorable battle took place 
at Khuddlan; Caradoc, the king of North Wales, 
with the flower of his nobility, was slain. The British 
bards mourned this defeat by composing a lament 
entitled, “ Moroa E-huddlan,” a strain often played 
on the harp in Wales. It is a beautiful plaintive 
melody. It is to be lamented that the close of this 
monarch’s life was clouded by a fearful crime; — 
this was no less than the murder of Ethelbert, king 
of East Anglia, and his own son-in-law. Stung by 
remorse, the last days of Offa were days of dreadful 
sufiering, and he made a pilgrimage to Eome in the 
vain hope of thus expiating his sin. 

The most distinguished of the Mercian princes for 
worth and talent was Kenwulf, the contemporary of 
Egbert: this monarch founded the monastery of 
Winchcombe, in the county of Gloucester, and was 
buried therein after a reign of twenty-two years, 
A.D. 819. Burdred, the last Mercian king, was a 
man of great bravery and merit. He died at Rome, 
whither, it will be observed that it was now become a 
frequent custom for kings and nobles to repair for 
religious purposes. His queen, Ethelswith, took the 
veil on his death, and dying fifteen years after, was 
buried with much honour in Padua, A.D. 889. Three 
years before this last event, the kingdom had fallen 
under the. dominion of Egbert, King of the West 
Saxons, namely in 886. 

The seventh Saxon kingdom, that of East Anglia 




56 


THE ANGLO-SAXON MONAECHIES. 


was founded by TJffa, about tbe year 575, the people 
being for some time called Ilffines, and the monarchs 
Uffinga, from his name. But a person much more 
important in history was Bedwald, of whom you have 
already heard as the friend and protector of Edwin, 
Prince of Deira, and in whose day the liingdom first 
rose into consequence—an event not a little contri¬ 
buted to by his stout defence of the oppressed Edwin, 
and the victory he obtained over his ambitious enemy, 
Ethelfrid. It was by the son of Bedwald, Erpenwald 
by name, that the blessed light of the Grospel was 
brought into East Anglia; but his pagan subjects were 
so exasperated by the injury done to their idols, that 
they conspired his death, and slew him by the hands 
of their emissary, Bichebert. It thus happens that 
many authors call Sigebert, his successor, the first 
Christian monarch. This sovereign, more fortunate 
than his predecessor, prevailed on his subjects to re¬ 
ceive the Christian religion, and founded a college for 
its teaching: he built an. abbey, also, to which he re¬ 
tired, but being forced thence by the ferocious king, 
Penda, and dragged into a battle, wherein he refused 
to use any other weapon than a white wand—was 
slain, with his cousin Egric, whom he had made his 
successor, in the year of our Lord, 638. 

The last East Anglian king was Edmund, its fif¬ 
teenth monarch, whose kingdom was invaded by the 
Panes, A.D. 870. 




THE CONSOLIDATED MONARCHY. 


57 


THE CONSOLIDATED MONAECflY. 

EROM A D. 800 TO A.D. 869. 


Egbert, tlie most distinguislied of the Anglo-Saxon 
kings before Alfred, succeeded to the throne of Essex 
in the year 800, and was the only living descendant 
of Cerdic, its founder. He was most acceptable to 
his countrymen, and having spent much time in the 
court of Charlemagne, he had acquired a skill in the 
art of governing that laid the foundation of his future 
greatness. At his accession, the minor powers of 
Kent, Essex, and East Anglia were dependent on 
Mercia, but this last kingdom was governed by the 
rigorous hand of Kenwulf, who, for the first nineteen 
years of Egbert’s reign, was his competitor in excel¬ 
lence ; and the death of Kenwulf having left his 
kingdom a prey to disorders, it fell into the hands of 
Egbert. The submission of its dependent kingdoms 
was consequent on the fall of Mercia, and Northum¬ 
berland soon after acknowledged Egbert’s ascendancy. 

He had scarcely consolidated his kingdom, and re¬ 
ceived the homage of his tributary princes as their 
chief, than he was attacked by the celebrated sea-king 
Regner Lodbrog, who ravaged the Isle of Sheppey, 




58 


THE COIfSOLIDATED MONABCKT. 


and defeated Egbert at Cbarmouth, in Dorsetshire, iu 
832; but was in his turn defeated in 835, with great 9 
slaughter, and compelled for a time to retire. Egbert 9 
died, after a reign of prosperity rarely equalled, in the 9 
year 836, and was succeeded by his son Ethelwulf. B 

Originally intended for the church, this prince was 9 
a much less vigorous opponent than his father had ■ 
been; and under his feeble reign the Danes succeeded I 
in obtaining a permanent settlement in the Isle of fl 
Thanet, and in Northumberland. The first wife of ■ 
Ethelwulf was Osberga, the daughter of Oslac, a man I 
of high celebrity, and herself distinguished for sense I 
and goodness ; this lady, dying after the birth of '■ 
Alfred, her fourth son, was succeeded in the king’s j 
affections by Judith, a Erench princess, also a woman 
of great merit, and one to whom Alfred, a child of six 
years old at the time of her marriage with his father, 
was afterwards indebted for much assistance in his 
education. 

It was on returning through France from a pil¬ 
grimage to Dome, that Ethelwulf married his second 
wife; but he had no sooner reached England with 
her, than he had the pain of discovering a conspiracy, 
at the head of which was his eldest son, Ethelbald. 

A civil war between the father and son was prevented 
only by the latter being associated with his father in 
the government. Ethelwulf was much under the do¬ 
minion of the clergy, and is said to have appropriated 
the tenth part of his dominions to the church: thus 

granting what we now call the tithes. 

% 


THE CONSOLIDATED MONAECIIY. 59 

Ethelwulf was succeeded by bis rebellious son, 
Etbelbald, of wbom little worth recording has come 
down to us: he died unlamented, three years after his 
accession, and was succeeded by his brother Ethel- 
bert, whose short but honourable reign of six years 
was fully occupied in cheching the incursions of the 
Danes. On his death, in 866, the kingdom devolved 
on Ethelred, third son of Ethelwulf, in pursuance of 
that monarch’s will. The reign of Ethelred, like that 
of his predecessors, was incessantly harassed by the 
Danes. These pirates were now accustomed to attack 
different parts of the coast simultaneously. During 
the last year of Ethelred’s reign, five pitched battles 
were fought against them, in one of which, fought 
April the 20th, 871, the young king lost his life. 

We have more than once alluded to the sea-kings ; 
and since ray next story will introduce you to the 
most celebrated of these piratical sovereigns, it may 
be well to say a few words as to their origin and 
character. 

Possessed of no territory, with no wealth but their 
ships, no force but their crews, the Vikingr, or sea- 
kings of the north, were held in horror throughout 
Europe. With no means of life but their sword, these 
pirates swarmed on the ocean, and plundered what¬ 
ever land they approached. “ Never to sleep under a 
smoky roof, nor to indulge in the cheerful cup over a 
hearth,” was with them a duty and a boast. Their 
mode of warfare was marked by the most demoniac 
cruelty; and he was rather lauded than disgraced, 


60 


THE CONSOLIDATED MONAECHT. 


who, landing by night, had set fire to a defenceless ■ 
house, and reduced its inhabitants to ashes. ■ 

’ . . . . . E 

Nay, so highly was this terrible pursuit of piracy J 
held in honour, that youth were regularly instructed* 
in it by monsters, whose pre-eminent ferocity had 9 
made them worthy teachers. One son of a house only | 
was permitted to remain at home; the rest w^ere exiled ■ 
to the seas, their ships and requisite equipments being I 
furnished to them as a patrimonial right; and this ■ 
fearful custom prevailed throughout the whole of Scan- ■ 
dinavia, whose populations, of every name, were thus I 
ceaselessly poured over the neighbouring countries, a 
bearing ruin and misery wherever they appeared. I 

Even the settled land sovereigns amused themselves I 
with piracy in the summer months, but as the custom ■ 
was universal, each was of course a sufierer in his I 
turn; nor was it an uncommon circumstance for a 1 
chief, on his return from ravagmg his neighbour’s | 
dominions, to find his own hearth laid in ashes, and 
his family lying corses around it. 

The name Vikingr is believed to mean King of the 
bays,” for in bays they lay frequently in ambush, ready 
to fall on the passing voyager, who, in that day, when 
the bolder navigation of mid-ocean, customary in our ^ 
times, was scarcely dared, had the habit of creeping ^ 
timidly along the coasts, and here it was that the .i 
Vikingr lay in wait till they could rush on their prey. 

One branch of the Vikingr is said to have cultivated , 
paroxysms of brutal insanity, and to have been revered ' 
in proportion as these fits of madness were violent. 



THE CONSOLIDATED MONADCHT. 


61 


These were the Berserker, who, when a conflict im¬ 
pended, or a great undertaking was to be entered on, 
abandoned all rationality upon system; they studied to 
resemble wolves or maddening dogs; they bit their 
shields; they howled like tremendous beasts ; they 
threw oif their clothing; they excited themselves into 
a strength which has been compared to that of bears, 
and then rushed to everv crime and horror which the 
most frantic enthusiasm could perpetrate. This fury 
was an artifice of battle, like the Indian war-whoop: 
its object was to intimidate the enemy, and the un¬ 
natural excitation was always follow^ed, as might’be 
expected, by a complete debility. Tt was originally 
practised by Odin, the most revered of their gods; 
they who used it often joined in companies, but as 
mind and morals improved, this furor was felt to be 
horrible: it changed from a distinction to a reproach, 
w’as prohibited by penal laws, and the name of “ Ber¬ 
serker ” at last became execrable. 

The early annals of half Europe were blotted by 
dark pages describing the excesses of the sea-kings; 
yet, from the descendants of these men it is, that some 
of the noblest people of Europe have originated. 

It is of Eegner Lodbrog, one of the most distin¬ 
guished of the sea-chiefs, that our next story will be 
told; of his visit to our country; its immediate efiect, 
and ultimate consequences. 


62 


THE SEA-KING. 


LODBEO&, THE SEA-KING. 

The Child of Strife from his earliest breath, it was by 
the death of his father, Siguard, in a battle with the 
King of Jutland, wherein both chieftains, with eleven 
thousand of their followers, lay slaughtered on the 
field, that the young Eegner Lodbrog succeeded to 
his dominions; but there was no peace in the land. 
Harold, of Jutland, whose accession to the throne 
was consequent on the same battle that had made 
Eegner king of the isles, disputed his possession of 
that territory; nor was the sea-king long able to 
maintain his footing against the monarch of the Main¬ 
land. 

His father, a distinguished Norwegian chief, and 
his mother, a princess of Denmark—at that time the 
most civilized kingdom of the north—the education of 
Eegner Lodbrog was the best afibrded by the times; 
and though it did not suffice to divest him of the 
cruelty so common to the period, it yet gave to his 
actions a sort of dignity, that raised him much above 
his barbarous competitors.- 

Driven by Harold, of Jutland, from the islands of 
the Baltic, his successful incursions on the coast of 
Scotland, the Anglo-Saxon monarchies, and Brit¬ 
tany, soon raised him to pre-eminent distinction among 
his brother sea-kings. Married to a lady of whom the 
authorities speak as a woman of much judgment and 
force of character, as well as a celebrated Scald, or 




THE SEA-KING. 


63 


poetess, he was the father of many sons; and these, 
educated in his own views of right and wrong, were of 
course accomplished destroyers like himself. 

It was during the solemnities of Easter, in the 
year 845, that the people of Normandy were scared 
by the apparition of this terrible sea-king, who, first 
ravaging their coast and its islands, next sailed up the 
Seine to Eouen, and, finding no effectual resistance, 
landed his troops, and, throwing all into consterna¬ 
tion, penetrated even to the capital, which they en¬ 
tered on Easter eve. Incapable of repelling these 
dreaded marauders, the people of Paris were fain to 
buy their safety with their gold; and when the mo¬ 
nastery of St. Germains had been destroyed by the 
barbarians, Louis le Debonnaire, or the Meek, the son 
of Charlemagne, who then occupied the throne, in¬ 
duced them to leave the city by a large gift in money. 

Returning in triumph with his sons, Biorn, In¬ 
guar, and Ebba, the victorious Lodbrog was received 
by his wife Aslanga with the rejoicings due to so suc¬ 
cessful an expedition; and after a certain time given 
to the feasts and tumults of joy held proper to the 
occasion, the Sea-king once more bethought himself 
of new ravages to be carried into other lands. 

His first care was to build two ships, of size and 
strength such as the north had never till then at¬ 
tempted. But when, having filled these with his 
choicest troops, he called his faithful Aslanga to ap¬ 
prove his magnificent preparation for new triumphs, 
the brow of the lady grew dark with apprehension. 


CA 


THE SEA-KING. 


and, for tbe first time, she entreated the warrior to 
forego his purpose. 

Surprised at a weakness so unwonted in the wife of 
a sea-king, and, above all, so foreign to the firm 
character of Aslanga, Itegner Lodbrog was for a mo¬ 
ment disposed to listen to her counsel; but fiercer 
thoughts prevailed, and, embarking with his people? 
he bore down on the English coast, that country be¬ 
ing the avowed object of the expedition. 

Now it is to be understood that the success of 
these piratical adventurers did not result from their 
ability to withstand the force of the region they at¬ 
tacked, so much as from the suddenness with which 



they fell on exposed points, and the celerity with 
which they departed with their prey, before resistance 
could be gathered; their safety was in their swiftness, 






















THE SEA-KINO. 


G5 


but this advantage the unwieldy ships of Lodbrog 
wanted, neither was the navigation of that day com¬ 
petent to their management. In grasping too much, 
Eegner ihad rushed on his fate: his ships were wrecked 
on the coast of Northumbria; but, too proud to become 
a suppliant, it was still as a ravager and plunderer 
that he advanced into the country—not without a 
hope, perhaps, that the boldness of his attack might 
bear down all opposition, and render his having no 
ships to retire to a matter of little moment. 

It was Ella, king of Eeira, a division of Northum¬ 
bria, by whom the Sea-king was encountered; and the 
whole force of the country being opposed to him, it 
soon became a hopeless struggle. Solemnly clothing 
himself in the garments adorned by his wife Aslanga, 
the Sea-king marched to what he hoped would be a 
death worthy his name; four times did he pierce the 
ranks of Ella, but while all his followers fell around 
liim, it was his misfortune to be taken prisoner; he 
fell alive into the hands of his enemies. 

And now came the terrible catastrophe. The man 
who had conquered Eegner Lodbrog was an usurper, 
and with the cruelty so often to be found in that 
character did he use his victory. The doom of the 
Sea-king was, to be thrown into a dungeon, and there 
to be stung to death by venomous reptiles ! 

How fearfully this wickedness was afterwards 
avenged, the troubles that marked the reign of Alfred 
may attest. 


66 


THE EEIGK O'l ALTRED. 


ALFEED THE GEEAT. 

FROM A.E. 871 TO A.D. 900. 
—»— 


Historiat!T3 have insisted with so much pertinacity 
on the great and undoubted excellence of Alfred, that 
his misfortunes would seem to have been rather the 
consequence of his virtues, than occasioned by his 
defects. Nay, the very term “defect,” as applied to 
the character of this most justly revered king, will be 
new and startling to many persons not unacquainted 
with history. Yet truth demands that this should 
not be—nay, justice to the noble Alfred himself for¬ 
bids our silence as to the early defects of his charac¬ 
ter ; for how much more exalted does he really become 
who is shown to have nobly combated and gloriously 
overcome the faults that had been imposed on him by 
the peculiarity of his circumstances, than could ever 
be the imaginary personage who, marching on with 
all appliances to aid, and unimpeded by any one evil 
tendency, had found excellence in his path and could 
hardly choose but make it his own. 

Having thus premised a statement somewhat foreign 
to those usually given as regards this prince, but 
which is gathered from his most attached friend and 
faithful biographer, the good churchman Assor, I 



THE EEIGN OE ALEEED. 


67 


proceed fearlessly to lay it before you, confident that 
your admiration for this noblest of our monarchs will 
be rather heightened than diminished by the know¬ 
ledge of all the truth. 

We have already alluded to his mother-in-law, 
Judith.—This lady, sitting one day amidst her hus¬ 
band’s sons, is reported to have proposed a volume of 
Saxon poems, which she held in her hand, as the 
prize of him who would first learn to read it. The 
elder princes remained untempted by this offer; but 
Alfred, who, though he had accompanied his father, 
Ethelwulf, to Eome and to the Erench court, and was 
now in his twelfth year, w^as, like his brothers, unable 
to read, felt, unlike them, very anxious to gain the 
power of doing so, and having found a teacher, he, 
after due labour, acquired the book, by complying with 
the condition of being able to read it. Erom this 
time he became much addicted to study, but this did 
not render him inactive or slothful; on the contrary, 
he is eulogized as incomparably skilled in the chase, 
and almost recklessly brave in war. 

We have elsewhere mentioned that battle with 
the Danes, in which the brother and predecessor of 
Alfred lost his life. This was followed by another, 
which took place within a month of Alfred’s accession 
and in which, the king’s troops being totally defeated, 
he was compelled to make a disadvantageous peace 
with the enemy, who, for the moment, quitted the 
kingdom. 

But it was only for the moment* no sooner had 






C8 THE REIGN OF ALFRED, 

tliey gained reinforcements, than they immediately 9 
returned. Entering Mercia, they drove out Eurdred, m 
its then chief, and, dividing their forces, the larger I 

portion of the Danish army marched to Cambridge, J 

where they wintered, while the second division pro¬ 
ceeded, under Halfdan, to complete the conquest of 
Northumbria. 

Again the invaders were bought off by the king; 
but this sacrifice had scarcely been consummated, 
when, regardless of their oaths, they fell on his forces 
by night, and, slaughtering his horsemen, availed 
themselves of the horses thus obtained to reach 
Exeter, where they remained for seven months. 

The year 878 was marked by the heaviest calami¬ 
ties ; new swarms from the Baltic now joined those 
who were already in possession of Mercia, and, ad¬ 
vancing into Wessex, they next made themselves 
masters of Chippenham, from which hold they com¬ 
mitted extensive ravages in the country. This acces¬ 
sion of strength in the enemy caused so much terror 
that many fied the land, others submitted to the 
Danes, and the king him.self was reduced to keep 
himself in so perfect a concealment, that neither his 
friends nor his enemies knew whether he were living 
or dead. 

Matthew of Westminster tells us that he had no 
means of existence but such as he could extort, not 
merely by secret or open plunder of the Danes, but 
even from such of his own subjects as submitted to 
them (the Danes). And into this misery he seems 



THE REIGN OF ALFRED. G9 

to have sunk without those battles of which one might 
naturally have expected first to hear—without the 
desperate struggle to have been expected from his 
warlike character, and without the dignity of retreat, 
which one would suppose must mark the last efforts, 
however hopeless, of a Warrior and a King. 

And it is from the evidently reluctant admissions 
of his most attached friend that we gain the solution 
of these difi3.culties. Alfred had not, at that time, 
the confidence, or respect, or affection, of his people. 
Nor does he seem to have merited them. Hear what 
Asser says:—“ This adversity occurred to the king 
not undeservedly, for that when he was a young man 
and of a youthful mind, he would not hear the op¬ 
pressed when they came to him, nor afford them any 
assistance, but treated them as of no estimation.”' 
St. Neot, also, the kinsman of Alfred, admonishes 
him thus forcibly:—“ 0 king, much shalt thou suffer 
in this life; thou shalt be deprived of that kingdom in 
which thou art so violently exercising an immoderate 
tyranny: but cease to wander in depraved manners; 
thy sins with alms redeem, and with tears abolish; 
depart entirely from thine unrighteousness, and thou 
shalt find mercy.” 

And Asser again, alluding to some misconduct of 
Alfred in the discharge of his royal functions, ex¬ 
presses a hope, that since his folly was so severely 
punished in this world, he might not be chastised for 
it in the next. Krom all which we must infer that 
his faults were really grave ones. But having said 


70 


THE EEIGN OF ALFEEU. 


thus much for the honour of sacred truth, and in jus- 
tice to the sublime virtues afterwards displayed by 
our glorious monarch, let us turn to the brighter por¬ 
tion of the picture. 

After wandering long in marshes and forests, ex¬ 
posed to the most cruel hardships, the king is de¬ 
scribed as coming to the Isle of Athelney; and here 
befel that adventure of the cowherd’s wife and the 
cakes, so often repeated, but which I cannot allow 
myself to omit; here it is, as translated by an accom¬ 
plished writer from a biography in Saxon:—“ He 
took shelter in a swain’s house, and also him and his 
evil wife diligently served. One day the swain’s 
wife heated her oven, and the king sat by it warming 
himself—she knew not then that he was the king— 
then the evil woman was excited, and spoke to the 
king with an angry mind: ‘ Turn thou those loaves, 
that they burn not, for I see daily that thou art a great 
eater !’ He soon obeyed this evil woman, because she 
would scold. He then, the good king! with great 
anxiety and sighing, called to his Lord, imploring his 
pity!” 

In this state of misery the king’s reflections appear 
to have been deep and effective; his disposition 
seems to have undergone a most beneficial change. 
After a time his wife and family joined him, and one 
day, when Alfred was pondering over a book that 
contained the lives of illustrious men, he was inter¬ 
rupted by the feeble knock of a hungry man, who 
earnestly supplicated relief; remembering the state 


THE REIGN OF ALFRED. 


71 



of suffering in whicb he had himself reached the 
same spot, i\lfred laid down his book, and finding 
that his store for the moment consisted of one loaf 
only, he turned gently from his poor reluctant queen, 
who trembled to part with their last morsel, and, giv¬ 
ing the half to the starving beggar, returned the re¬ 
mainder to his wife. 


Three months from this time he resolved on making 
an effort against the Danes encamped at Bratton- 
Hill, and sent messengers enjoining his nobles to 
meet him with their followers in battle array to the 
east of Selwood Forest. 

First visiting the Danish camp in the disguise of a 
































































































































































72 


THE EEIG:?^ OE ALFllED. 


minstrel, which his acquirements in music and poetry 
enabled him to do effectually, the king made whatever 
observations could he useful to his purpose; he then 
joined his newly-raised forces, and, leading them 
against the enemy, who w^as unprepared for such an 
attack, he gained a victory “ as complete in its bene¬ 
ficial effects, as it was brilliant in its immediate 
glory.” 

Far from destroying his enemies, once overcome, 
the king granted their lives to Guthrum, the Danish 
commander-in-chief, and his followers; nay, he per¬ 
mitted them to settle in East Anglia, on condition ot 
their receiving baptism, to which they agreed. 

From this period the reign of Alfred, though not 
undisturbed by the Danes, was wise and prosperous. 
He rebuilt the cities and castles that had been de¬ 
stroyed, and raised fortifications in every eligible po¬ 
sition ; he divided the country into Hundreds and 
Tythings, for its better military defence and internal 
peace ; he created a Naval Armament for the protec¬ 
tion of the coast, and for this alone would be justly 
entitled to the gratitude of every Englishman, since 
it constitutes him the founder of the English Navy. 

It was for the welfare of his people alone that our 
good King Alfred now lived and acted. Tranquillity 
once restored, his next care was to devise a Constitu¬ 
tion, which should secure civil liberty and impartial 
justice to all classes of his subjects. Among his in¬ 
stitutions, that of Trial by Jury holds a distinguished 
place. Alfred had not only to defend and cherish his 


THE REIG^f or ALFRED. 


73 


people, he had also to educate them. Yet neither from 
this task did he shrink. He founded the University 
of Oxford, established numerous schools, and en¬ 
couraged learning by distinguishing those possessing 
it with his personal friendship. Merit was every¬ 
where sought and rewarded. 

Nor was example wanted to enforce the precepts 
he laid down. • Himself a student of astronomy, geo¬ 
graphy, and botany, he translated the works of Latin 
authors into Anglo-Saxon. 

AN OLD EEIENH WITH A NEW EACE. 

We have here a portion of King Alfred's translation of 
a story with which many of you will be already familiar, 
and it shows that the works of Homer must have been 
known to the scholars in Britain at that period. 

“ There happened formerly in the Trojan war, that 
there was a kiiig of the name of Ulysses; he had two 
nations under the Caesar, these w'ere called Ithaca and 
Eetie, and the Caesar’s name was Agamemnon. Then 
Ulysses went with that Caesar to the battle ; he had 
then some hundred ships. Then were they some ten 
years in that war. 

‘‘ Then the king returned home from that Caesar, 
when they had won the country. He had not then 
more ships than one, hut that was a three rower. 
Then a high tempest and a stormy sea withstood him, 
and hewas driven into an island beyond the WendelSea 
there lived a daughter of Apolline, the son of Jove. 





74 


TIIE EEIGN OF ALFEED. 


“ This Jove was their king, and it pleased them that 9 
he should be their highest god; and these foolish men I 
believed on him because he was of a kinglj race, and ^ 
they knew no other god in that time: but they wor- ^ 
shipped their kings for gods. Then should Jove’s fa- 
ther also be a god; his name was Saturnus, and ■ 
they had him also the same for a god, and one of ^ 
them was the Apolline that we have mentioned. ^ 

“ This Apolline’s daughter should be a goddess ; j 
her name was Circe. They said she was a very great 
magician, and she lived in that island that the King 
Ulysses was driven on ; she had there a great retinue i 
of her Thanes, and also of other maidens. 

“Soon as she saw the forth-driven king that we 
spoke of before, whose name was Ulysses, she began 
to love him, and each of them the other, so immode- ' 
rately, that he for love of her abandoned all his king¬ 
dom, and remained with her till the time that his 
Thanes would not stay longer with him, but for love 
of their country they resolved to leave him. Then 
began false men to make spells and they said that, by 
their magic, they would spread and turn these men 
into the bodies of wild animals, and afterwards throw 
them into chains and fetters. Some they said they 
should transform into lions, and when they should 
speak they roared; some became boars, and when 
they lamented their sorrow they furiously grunted; 
some were changed into wolves, and when they thought 
to speak they howled; some were turned to that deer 
kind, which men call tigers: thus were all the company 


THE REIGN OE ALFRED. 


75 


transformed into various kinds of deer—every one to 
some deer, except only the King Ulysses. They 
shunned every meat that men eat, and desired those 
things which the deer eat; they had no likeness of 
man, neither in their body nor in their voice, yet every 
one knew in his understanding, as he did before: this 
understanding sorrowed very much for the miseries 
which they suffered,” &c., &c. 

Some assert him to have translated the Scriptures, 
but it would rather seem that he made a selection 
from them for his own use, more especially from the 
Psalms of David. He is mentioned with profound 
respect, whether for learning or probity, by all his con¬ 
temporaries ; and an author, writing at the period of 
the Norman Conquest, gives him the honourable title 
of the “Truth-teller.” 

Again, following Asser, we find that “all experi¬ 
enced the vigilance and protection of his fatherly care, 
none now sought his help in vain.” His reputation 
increased with his life, and after twenty-two years of 
the most active utility, he died greatly lamented and 
honoured on the 26th day of October, A.D. 901, in the 
53rd year of his age, and the 30th of his reign. 

"We have designedly omitted to speak of what was 
perhaps the most brilliant military action of Alfred’s 
life. This was his long struggle with the distinguished 
Danish General, Hastings, and the particulars will be 
found in the following story. 



76 


HASTINGS, THE DANE. 


HASTINGS, THE DANE. M 

Fifteen years, employed sedulously for the benefit of 
bis people, bad lent tbeir confirming effect to tbe well ■ 
awakened virtues of tbe royal Alfred, since tbe victory 
of Etbandune bad removed bim from tbe privations of " 
Atbelney, and tbe reproaches of bis “ evil” hostess, to * 
tbe tbrone be so nobly illustrated. Fifteen years of f' 
ceaseless activity, and of continual improvement both * 
in the people be so anxiously ruled, and in himself, at ri 
once tbeir guardian, governor, and teacher. | 

It was a wild night of autumn, in the year 893 ; tbe 
wind whistled fitfully tbrougli tbe many crevices of tbe * 
royal dwelling, and its ill secured doors and windows, 
but recently furnished with tbe luxury of born panes, 
shook and rattled as tbe blast raved around them, j 
Little, however, were these interruptions regarded by 
tbe noble looking occupant of tbe rude chamber; they 
might, indeed, have passed altogether unnoticed, but 
that, ever, as a more violent gust came rushing through 
tbe building, tbe head, previously bent over its employ¬ 
ment, was raised for a moment, and a glance of satis¬ 
faction was given to tbe tall waxen taper that, steadily 
burning in tbe clear born casings, which be bad him¬ 
self, wutb much labour of thought, contrived for it, 
bade a calm and successful defiance to tbe vagrant airs 
that, blowing unheeded about tbe bead of tbe observer, 
were seen with pleasure to assail as vainly tbe pellucid 
palace be bad contrived for bis light. At once a lamp 



HASTINGS, THE DANE. 


77 


and a time piece, the slender shaft now gave warning, 
that the few moments w’hich alone his many avocations 
permitted him to devote to the object then filling his 
thoughts, were expended, and, rising from the board 
on which he had been tracing certain lines, segments 
of circles, &c., &c., the earnest student laid his rough 
pencil aside, and gave the signal that an official, whom 
he had appointed for that hour, and who, as he 
doubted not, was waiting without, might enter his 
presence. 

Punctual, as is ever the servant of a master exact 
in the measurement of his own time, Lucumon now 
stood before his lord; but the marks of heavy care 
were on his brow, and his compressed lips were elo¬ 
quent of something much amiss, though as yet no 
sound escaped them. 

“ Then it is true that the restless Hsesten, or Hast¬ 
ings, hath left his lair upon the Norman coast, and it 
is indeed to our own shores that the Sea-king shapes 
his course ?” observed King Alfred; the face of the 
Gerefa being a sufficiently speaking exponent of the 
information his master had sent him to gather, in con¬ 
sequence of rumours that had lately reached him. 

“ It is even so, noble king,” responded Lucumon, 
“ two hundred and fifty of his ships are off the Kent¬ 
ish coast; already has he destroyed the forts that were 
constructing by your orders, in the fens, and his bar¬ 
barian hordes have well nigh completed a strong line 
of defence on the Pother.” 

“ He is a noble leader,” replied the high-minded 



78 


IIASTIIiGS, THE DANE. 




king, ‘‘and must be worthily met; summon Sigeric 
and Ethelwyn, and return thyself to join our council. 
Bring also more cheerful looks with thee,” continued 
the noble Alfred with a friendly smile : “ thou hast 
helped me through as dangerous a juncture, redoubted 
as this Hastings is, and never fear but thou shaft see - 
me well through this, my good Lucumon—our best 
efforts and heaven’s blessing on them to aid.” 

Hot that the monarch undervalued his peril; he 
knew it to be extreme. The Danes, newly settled in 
East Anglia, might be expected to join their invading 
countrymen; and Alfred’s first care was to encamp 
with his forces in such a position, as to separate his 
new assailants from these so lately subdued neigh¬ 
bours. 

This he accomplished with a celerity and judgment 
that surprised, and for the moment even awed, his an¬ 
tagonist; for Hastings, remarkable himself for these 
two invaluable qualities in a general, was the better 
able to appreciate their probable effect on his own de¬ 
signs, and, accustomed to the disorderly and inefficient 
mode of defence prevalent through Normandy, he was 
but ill prepared to expect the cool caution and firm 
courage displayed by Alfred. Our monarch had beside 
a second difficulty to contend with, in the conditions 
of military service among the Saxons permitting all to 
retire to their homes, the campaign once concluded ; 
but this also he met with consummate prudence. He 
divided his forces into two bodies, one of which he 
dismissed to the occupations needful for the preserva- 


HASTINGS, THE DANE. 


79 


tion of all from famine; and when these had passed 
their time of absence, they were recalled to the field ; 
while the portion of the troops that had remained in 
active service were, in their turn, dismissed to the la¬ 
bours of agriculture. By this means he maintained a 
strong force always in the field, and was enabled to 
keep both Hastings and the suspected East Anglians 
in check, until means could be devised and brought 
into action for driving the former from the kingdom. 

And so crippled was the Danish invader, by the 
success with which the prudent measures of Alfred had 
enabled him to cut off his supplies ; so weary did he 
feel of being shut up to starve in his entrenchments, 
that he promised at once to leave the kingdom, and 
sent his two sons to Alfred, with a request that they 
'might be baptized, and admitted to the Christian 
communion. Instead of betaking himself to his ships, 
however, the treacherous Dane proceeded inland, 
plundering and destroying all before him : he was im¬ 
mediately pursued by Alfred, and his army defeated 
with great loss, at Earnham, in Surrey. Again w^as 
the enemy reduced to sue for peace, which, on a re¬ 
peated promise to leave the country, was again ac¬ 
corded : but the restless Hastings found means not 
only to recommence the struggle, but to induce his 
countrymen of East Anglia to join their forces with 
his, for the purpose of maintaining it. 

Exeter, the coast of Sussex, and the city of Chester, 
were in turn witness to the skill and valour of our 
illustrious king, and to the pertinacity of his enemies. 


80 


HASTINGS,^ THE DANE. 

Twice were tlie wife and children of Hastings brought ■ 
as prisoners to the presence of Alfred, and twice did 9 
he return them, first bestowing on them costly pre- 9 
sents, unharmed, to their natural protector; but the ^ 
barbarous Sea-king remained untouched by the nobi- m 
lity of his proceedings, or perhaps it may with more I 
truth be said, that, weary of his homeless and preca- 9 
rious existence, the wanderer had resolved on settling ^ 
himself on the fertile shores of Britain, and was re- ! 
luctant to resign his hopes of doing so. 

His next attempt was to fix himself in the moun- i 
tains of North "Wales ; but driven thence and across 
the whole width of the island by his equally pertina- i 
cious pursuer, he at length entrenched himself on the - 
river Lea, about twenty miles above London, the citi- ' 
zens of which place, having prematurely attacked him, 
were defeated with great loss. But the King arriving 
to their aid, compelled the enemy to abandon his ships, ; 
enabled his own people to secure their harvests, and, 
that done, pursued the Danes to the Severn, where ! 
the aid of their treacherous countrymen, the East An- 
glians, had again enabled them to make a stand. 

It was now that the acquirements of Alfred in na¬ 
val architecture stood him in stead. The Danish and 
Frisian ships had hitherto surpassed all others known 
in Europe, but the many improvements introduced , 
into his navy by Alfred, enabled him now to bring a 
force against his enemy that at length put an end to 
the contest. Six vessels which, after ravaging the 
coasts of Devon and the Isle of Wight, were proceed- 


nASTIlTGS, THE DANE. 


81 


ing to reinforce Hastings, were all destroyed; and, 
yielding at last to the genius of his accomplished an¬ 
tagonist, the Danish leader retired into France, where, 
receiving a gift of lands from the reigning prince, he 
is said to have ended his turbulent life in tranquillity. 

Lucumon was killed in the last battle fought on 
this occasion; and the fearful ravages to which the 
country had been exposed, were followed by a pesti¬ 
lence that for three years filled the nation with death,” 
and ofiered but too many an occasion for the exercise 
of those virtues, which have gained for Alfred that 
testimony from historians of all ages, which has placed 
him high amongst the greatest, if it has not proved 
him the very greatest. Sovereign, the world has ever 
produced. 



o 















SI 


EDAYAED THE ELDES, 


EDWAED THE ELDEE, ATHELSTAN, ED¬ 
MUND THE ELDEE, EDEED, EDAVY, ED- 
GAE, ED WAED THE MAETYE, ETHELEED 
THE UNEEADY, AND EDMUND lEON- 
SIDE. 



1 

Alfred was succeeded by his son Edward, who, hav- I 
ing distinguished himself in the struggle with Hast- ! 
ings, was chosen by the nobles, although Ethelwold, 
son of Ethelbert, Alfred’s eldest brother, laid claim to 
the crown. Ethelwold was supported by the Danes 
settled in Northumberland, and by troops obtained 
from the Continent; but Edward, who, though greatly 
inferior to his illustrious father in all other respects, 
is said to have equalled him in military skill, soon ter¬ 
minated the contest in a battle, wherein Ethelwold 
was slain, and his most zealous followers taken prison¬ 
ers. Edward was much assisted in the wars against 
the Welsh, which agitated the greater part of his reign, 
by his sister, Ethellieda, who, having married the Earl 
of Mercia, is said to have governed that province very 
wisely after her husband’s death. 

, The university of Cambridge claims Edward as its 
founder; and this prince may be considered one of the 



EDWARD THE ELDER—ATIIELSTAX. 83 

most distinguislied of our early monarchs. He closed 
a not inglorious reign of 24 years, A.I). 925; and 
being followed to tbe grave four days after by bis ac¬ 
complished sonj Efcbelward, tbe eldest child of bis first 
marriage, tbe Anglo-Saxon crown was given by a 
Witenagemot to bis eldest son, Atbelstan, who was 
thirty years old at bis accession. This prince was 
knighted in bis infancy by bis grandfather, Alfred ; be 
was carefully educated by Ethelfleda, his aunt, and bis 
attainments would seem to have well repaid her care. 

Tbe early years of Atbelstan’s reign were much 
disturbed,—by Sitbric, Danish Prince of Northumber¬ 
land, and bis sons Anlaf and Grodefrid, who procured 
tbe alliance of Constantine, King of Scotland, and a 
great battle was fought at Brunnaburg, A.D., 938. 
The event was long doubtful, for all fought with reck¬ 
less bravery; but at length tbe Scottish monarch, with 
bis son, tbe flower of bis nobility, and five tributary 
kings who had joined him, after having performed pro¬ 
digies of valour, were left dead on tbe field; victory 
was declared for Atbelstan. This event seated him 
firmly on tbe throne, and be it is who, by many old 
annalists, is called tbe first English king. After this 
contest, Atbelstan’s reign was one of quiet; bis alliance 
was sought by the most powerful foreign princes, and 
“ from this period, England began to come forth from 
her insular seclusion, and to be concerned in the com¬ 
mon transactions of Europe.” 

But perhaps Atbelstan’s most glorious distinction 
was that of causing tbe Ploly Scriptures to be trans- 


84 


ATHELSTAN. 


lated into the Saxon tongue. This has been rarely 
commented on by historians, but is an honour we are 
the more bound to preserve to him, inasmuch as that 
we are compelled to record against him the fearful 
crime of a brother’s murder. 

The young Edwin, being charged with intending to 
dethrone the king, asserted his innocence on oath; 
but spite of this, he was put to sea in a shattered boat 
without oars, and thus cruelly committed to the mercy 
of the waves. Eor some time his bark rose on the 
waters, but seeing himself carried farther and farther 
into the wilds of the ocean, he sprang despairing into 
the waves : his body was washed on shore near Dover, 
and for seven years Athelstan mourned his death with 
a bitterness of sorrow, which showed that he had 
gained by his crime only the self-reproach and misery 
that always follow guilt. 

Athelstan died A.D. 941, leaving the English throne 
to his brother Edmund, a youth then eighteen years of 
age. This prince, calledEdmundtheElder, was attacked 
by Anlaf, the son of Sithric, immediately on his acces¬ 
sion, and although compelled to negotiate a disadvanta¬ 
geous peace with that enterprising leader, he displayed 
great bravery and military skill. His life was cut short 
by an event related variously by contemporary authors 
—the best authorities describe it as follows : England 
was at this time much infested by banditti, and one 
of the most turbulent, named Leolf, being banished by 
the king, had yet the boldness to appear at a feast in 
his presence; Edmund, enraged at this insult, rose to 


EDMUND THE ELDEE—EDEED. 


85 


seize the robber, and was stabbed to the heart in the 
struggle which ensued; but whether by Leolf, or some 
other hand, is unknown: this event took place A.D. 
946. 

Edmund the Elder was succeeded by his brother 
Edred. The Northumbrian Danes seized the occasion 
to revolt, and were aided by Malcolm, King of Scot¬ 
land; but the vigorous measures adopted by Edred 
soon terminated the rebellion. Now began that era 
of priestly domination, which was afterwards felt to 
be so tyrannical and oppressive. Dunstan, at this 
time Abbot of Canterbury, had been expelled for his 
turbulence by Athelstan and Edmund ; but gaining 
on the weaker Edred, the whole power of the kingdom 
became gradually placed at his disposal. The death 
of Edred, which took place A.D. 955, gave a check to 
the abbot’s power; his son and successor, Edwin, 
sometimes called Edwy, was little disposed to succumb 
to the churchman’s influence. Edwin had married 
his cousin Elgiva, and at the festival of his coronation 
he retired from the riot of the feast to the repose of 
the queen’s apartments. This being an ofience against 
the customs of the day, Dunstan presumed to enter 
the royal presence, and to force the king from his bride. 
In revenge for this insult, Edwin required from the 
abbot an account of the treasures intrusted to him in 
the late king’s reign ; this Dunstan was either unable 
or unwilling to give, and w^as instantly banished the 
kingdom. This act of boldness was avenged by the 
excommunication of the queen, whom Odo, Archbishop 



86 


P.DTIED—EDAVT. 


of Canterbury, instigated by Dunstan, commanded 
Edwin to give up, as within the prohibited limits of 
consanguinity. The thunders of the church were then 
so terrible, that Edwin dared not resist: Elgiva was 
branded on the cheek with a hot iron, and banished to 
Ireland. But her affection for her husband triumphed 
over her fears of the priests; being healed of her 
wounds, she escaped from her enemies, and had reached 
Gloucester, when she was seized by the emissaries of 
Odo, and murdered with circumstances of revolting 
barbarity. 

About the same time the Mercians, incited by 
Dunstan, had4’evolted, and placed Edgar, the younger 
brother of Edwin, on the throne. Heart-broken from 
the death of his beloved wife, the wretched Edwin felt 
no power to contend with this new calamity, and sink¬ 
ing beneath the persecution of his enemies, he died 
before he had well attained the age of manhood, A.D. 
959. 

His brother Edgar, surnamed the Peaceable, suc¬ 
ceeded him, and Dunstan being recalled, was made 
first. Bishop of "Winchester, and next, Odo having died. 
Archbishop of Canterbury. This reign is remarkable 
principally for its perfect tranquillity ; a circumstance 
resulting less from the pacific dispositions of the prince, 
perhaps, than from the formidable attitude of defence he 
maintained, a large standing army being constantly in 
pay, while no less than 4000 vessels of different sizes 
are said to have guarded the coasts. No one ventured 
to attack a prince so well defended, and his alliance 


EDWY—EDGAE. 


87 



was sought by the most powerful monarchs. He died 
in the thirty-second year of his age, A.D. 975. 

Edgar was succeeded by his son, Edward the Martyr, 
so called because murdered three years after his acces¬ 
sion, by command of Elfrida, his father’s second wife, 
who desired to see her own son mount the throne. 
The incident is thus related :—Hunting near Corfe 
Castle, the residence of his mother-in-law, the king 
rode thither to pay his respects to her; declining to 
alight, he requested to see his brother, and Elfrida pre¬ 
sented him with a cup of wine, but while he was rais¬ 
ing it to his lips, one of her servants stabbed him in 
the back. Feeling himself wounded, he put spurs to 


his horse, but soon falling from his seat, was dragged 
along the rugged way by the frightened animal; and, 





















88 


EDWAED THE MAETTE—ETHELEED. 


being traced by bis blood, was found a disfigured corpse. 
Almost every other event of Edward’s reign belongs 
strictly to ecclesiastical history: he died A.D. 978, 
and was succeeded by his brother, Ethelred, son of the 
murderess Elfrida. 

This prince, surnamed the Unready, was but ten 
years old at his accession: it is said that, on his shed¬ 
ding tears for his brother’s death, his mother, Elfrida, 
seized a waxen candle which stood near, and beat the 
terrified infant with a dreadful severity, that left him 
nearly expiring; the anguish of the blows never quitted 
his remembrance, and perhaps the irresolution, the 
yielding imbecility which characterized his long reign, 
may have originated in the perpetual terror which the 
guardianship of such a mother produced. 

Incessantly harassed by the Danes, and surrounded 
by treacherous counsellors, who were, in fact, the 
secret agents of the enemy, the fleets and armies of 
Ethelred were broken and dispersed as soon as raised, 
and he was more than once compelled to purchase a 
disgraceful peace by large sums extorted from his 
already impoverished subjects. 

This was bad, but more remains behind; led away 
by his evil counsellors, the king consented to permit a 
general massacre of his Danish subjects, and this when 
they were living in trusting peace with the Saxons. 
On the day preceding the Eestival of St. Brice every 
city received secret orders to destroy the Danes as¬ 
sembled for the festival; and this barbarous decree 
was executed without regard to rank, age, or sex. 


ETIIELRED THE UNREADY. 


89 


Among the victims was Gunhilda, sister of Sweyn, King 
of Denmark, and wife of an English Earl. This excel¬ 
lent lady, having been converted to Christianity, was 
earnestly employed in seeking to propagate the truth 
among her countrymen, but her virtues could not save 
her from the murderers, who beheaded her, having 
first slain her husband and son in her presence. 

This wickedness was not long unavenged; Sweyn 
invaded England with an overwhelming force, and 
spread terror and desolation through the land; the 
most horrible tortures were inflicted on all who fell into 
his hands: the clergy, more especially, were pursued 
with unrelenting virulence, partly as Christian priests, 
but chiefly because they were believed to be the instiga¬ 
tors of the massacre. These ravages, which laid the 
land in ruins, lasted ten years, and ended in Ethelred’s 
abandonment of his kingdom, and in the capture of 
London ; this last event did not take place until after a 
defence of which the early authors speak in warm 
terms of praise, nor until Ethelred had departed to the 
shelter afforded him by Kichard, Duke of Kormandy, 
brother to the queen. 

Tlie death of Sweyn, which followed soon after his 
triumph, occasioned the recall of Ethelred, and his son 
Edmund, surnamed Ironside, received the command of 
the army; but the courage and conduct of the prince 
were rendered useless by the misguided counsels of 
Ethelred. Canute, the son and successor of Sweyn, 
gained several important victories; and at length, 
driving Edmund from the field, compelled him to take 


90 


ETHELEED THE ENEEADT. 


■'i'. 


refuge witliiu the walls of London. At this period, 
1013, Ethelred died, leaving the mined sovereignty , ^ 
to his more deserving son. 

Edmund Ironside succeeded his father, as we have 
shown, in a period of the most stormy violence; hut ' 
such was the general confidence in his military talents, 
and the attachment of his new subjects to his excel- ' 
lent character, that he was nobly seconded by what¬ 
ever forces he could muster, and succeeded in driving 
Canute from before the gates of his capital. A battle 
took place at Scarstan, which, continuing until night, 
separated the combatants, was renewed in the morning 
with awful eagerness, and Edmund, engaged hand to 
hand with (^Janute, had already slightly wounded him, 
when the traitorous act of a wretch, whose name is but 
another word for infamy, tore the victory from his 
grasp. Striking the head from a man named Osmear, 
who strongly resembled the King, Edric Strseon, the 
unworthy favourite of Ethelred, stuck this witness on 
his sword, and raising it aloft, exclaimed, “ Fly, fiy, ye 
men of Dorset and Devon ! fiy and save yourselves, for 
here is Edmund’s head !” 

In vain did Edmund tear ofi* his helmet, and ex¬ 
pose his unarmed head to his deceived warriors ; the 
fatal spirit had gone forth, the troops were in disorder, 
and all their prince’s skill and bravery could but sus¬ 
tain the combat till night again interposed. 

Many battles were afterwards fought, but the parties 
seemed so equally balanced, that the principal nobility 
implored the rival leaders to consent to a division of 


THE TRAITOll’s aUERDON. 


91 


the kingdom. Edmund’s patriotic efforts were still 
unrelaxed, but be bad pardoned tbe traitor Edric, on 
receiving bis oatb of fidelity, and that bad man ren¬ 
dered all his master’s labours nugatory. A treaty was 
concluded by which Mercia and Northumberland were 
yielded to the Dane, the rest of England remaining to 
the Saxon king. But this had only been signed a few 
days when Edmund died at Oxford, A.D. 1016, and in 
the 3rd year of his reign, by an act and in a manner 
that shall be described to you in my next story. 


THE TBAITOE’S GUEEDON. 

Raised from a very low station by the partiality of the 
weak Ethelred, Edric Strseon was so far from justifying 
the selection of his master, that he is described as 
“ surpassing all men in perfidy and cruelty.” Elo¬ 
quent, plausible, and crafty, it was by the exercise of 
these qualities, and no other or nobler ones, that he 
attained to the dignity of Ealdorman of Mercia. 

Some years after, and during the lifetime of his in¬ 
dulgent master, the wicked Edric repaid him by going 
over to the Danes with forty ships that had been in¬ 
trusted to his command. His treason at the battle 
of Scarstan I have already described to you, and pro¬ 
ceed to relate the crowning enormity of his disgrace¬ 
ful life, with the reward his then sovereign conferred 
on him for its commission. 

Sincerely devoted to the cause of his country, Ed- 



92 


THE traitor’s GUEEBOH. 


raund Ironside fought bravely while hope existed, but, 
finding his struggles brought only misery to his people, 
he consented to relinquish a large portion of his domi¬ 
nions for the sake of that peace so much needed by 
the nation, and retired to one of the cities still remain¬ 
ing to him, with the earnest purpose of maintaining 
in all uprightness the treaty he had found it need¬ 
ful to conclude. 

But the wicked Edric had not yet filled up the mea¬ 
sure of his crimes, and now bribed the servants of 
Edmund to compass the destruction of their master. 
Unhappily, there were two among them who were not 
found proof against the traitor’s gifts and promises. 
These were the chamberlains of the king : and, avail¬ 
ing themselves of their privilege to be constantly about 
his person, these wretches took advantage of the con¬ 
fidence reposed in them, and attacking their unsuspect¬ 
ing lord, at a moment when he was totally unprepared 
to defend himself, they cruelly put him to death. 
Their names are not preserved in history, nor are we 
acquainted with the form in which retribution over¬ 
took these wicked servants. But we may be certain 
that they did not escape the punishment they had so 
richly merited, any more than their infamous employer. 

Not content with this, the wicked Edric next turned 
his arts against Edwig, the brother of Edmund Iron¬ 
side, whose death was also determined on by Canute, 
and Edric undertook to accomplish it. Looking about 
for the best means of securing his purpose, he believed 
himself to have found them in the person of Ethel wold. 


TilE TEAITOE’s QUEEEON. 


03 


a man of high birth but straitened means ; and, pre¬ 
senting this person to Canute, the king himself be¬ 
sought Ethelwold to destroy the young prince, with 
the promise of a large reward. 

But Ethelwold had seemed to comply with the 
wishes of Edric only to preserve the life of Edwig, 
which for that time he succeeded in doing, although 
the next year the young prince fell a victim to the 
king’s apprehensions. 

Meanwhile Canute was bitterly displeased wdth 
Edric, both for the failure and for the exposure that 
had ensued from his having been led by Edric to give 
himself order for Edwig’s destruction. The king 
dissembled for a time, but being firmly seated on the 
throne and no longer needing the wicked Saxon’s ser¬ 
vices, he resolved to rid himself of a man whose pre¬ 
sence was a constant reproach to him. 

One day the grasping Edric, claiming further re- 
w'ards, was indignantly refused, and burst forth in 
anger—“ For you,” he exclaimed, “ I deserted my lord 
—for you I destroyed him.” “ Kot for me,” retorted 
Canute, “not for me—but for your own ambitious 
purposes—and you shall die for your treason; your 
blood be upon your own head!—you have murdered 
the Lord’s anointed!—your own lips bear witness 
against you!” Thus saying, Canute gave a signal to 
Eric of Norway, who struck down the traitor with his 
battle-axe. His body was thrown from the window, 
which overlooked the Thames; the waters closed 
quickly over the quivering corpse—and this was the 
“Traitor’s Guerdon.” 


94 


THE ANGLO-DANISU MONAECHI. 


THE AHGLO-DANISH MOHAECHY,] 

FROM 1016 TO 1041. 

-o— 

The death of Edmund having left Canute an undis¬ 
puted throne, he was nevertheless anxious to secure 
his prize from the precarious tenure on which posses¬ 
sions obtained by force of arms are usually held; he 
therefore convened the nobility and clergy, who, de¬ 
claring him elected, he was immediately crowned 
king. 

Edmund had left two sons and three brothers ; the 
first were sent to the King of Sweden, in the hope 
that he would permit them to be destroyed, which 
Canute had been warned could not be safely done in 
England; but, incapable of so wicked an act, this 
prince sent the children to the King of Hungary, to' 
be educated and preserved. One died, the other mar¬ 
ried Agatha, daughter of Henry, Emperor of Germany, 
and had a son, named Edgar Atheling. 

Of Edmund’s brothers, one was murdered, and all 
hope of succession was destroyed for the others by the 
marriage of Canute with Emma, their mother, the 
children of this marriage being guaranteed the crown. 
Having thus secured his kingdom, the acts of Canute 



THE ANGLO-EAXlSli MOXAliCllY. 


95 


were for some time oppressive and tyrannical; he 
banished many nobles, and laid heavy imposts on the 
commons; but he was a great warrior, and some inci¬ 
dents are related of him that betoken a mind of high 
order. Thus, having killed a soldier in a moment of 
intemperance, and so committed a crime that he had 
heavily fined in others, he assembled his troops, de¬ 
scended from his throne, and, confessing his fault, he 
declared those before him his judges, and, casting him¬ 
self on the ground, awaited humbly their sentence. 
They respectfully withdrew to deliberate, and, touched 
by the king’s humility, decided that he should himself 
fix his punishment. Homicide was then fined in the 
sum of forty talents; Canute imposed on himself the 
payment of three hundred and sixty—adding nine 
talents of gold as a further compensation. 

His reproof to his courtiers is well known; these 
unworthy flatterers declaring him the commander of 
the ocean itself, he ordered the chair of his dignity 
to be placed on the sea-beach, and thus addressed the 
Tide that was rolling to shore :— 

“ Keep back, thou proud ocean, the island on which 
I sit is mine, thou art a part of my dominions, and I 
forbid thee to ascend my coasts, or to presume to wet 
the borders of my robes.” That this mandate was 
disregarded will be obvious, and Canute availed him¬ 
self of the occasion to impress on the mind of his 
courtiers this sublime truth,—“ Grod only is the Grreat 
Supreme; let Him -only have the name of Majesty 
•w’hose everlasting laws the heavens, earth, and sea 


OG THE AHGLO-HAHISH MOITARCHY. 

witli all tlieir hosts obey!” It is added, that from 
this time he would never wear his crown, but placed 
it on the head of a golden crucifix at Winchester; for 
he had renounced paganism soon after his arrival in 
England. 



Canute was remarkable for liberality, love of poetry 
and, in the close of his life, for devotional feeling. He 
reigned nineteen years, and died A.D. 1035. Canute 
left three sons, Sweyn, Harold, and Hardicanute; the 
last, being the son of Emma, should have succeeded, but 
he, being in Denmark at the time, his brother Harold 

















THE ANGLO-HANTSH MONAECHT. 


97 


took possession of the throne. In imitation of his 
father, he procured the sanction of a general assembly ; 
but Emma sent for the sons left her by Ethelred, in 
the hope of unseating him. One of these princes, 
Alfred, fell into the hands of Earl Godwin, Harold’s 
adherent, and was barbarously murdered. The second 
retired with his mother into Normandy. No event of 
interest occurs in Harold’s reign; he died in 1040, 
and was succeeded by his brother Hardicanute. The 
reign of this monarch was also uneventful: his health 
was very feeble, and he died in consequence of drink¬ 
ing intemperately at the marriage of a Danish noble¬ 
man, A.D. 1041. With Hardicanute ended the Anglo- 
Danish Monarchy, after a duration of 24 years only. 
His character appears to have been that of a good- 
natured debauchee, not wanting in generosity of sen¬ 
timent, nor stained with any darker vice than the habit 
of inordinate eating and drinking. His plentiful table, 
however, w^hich was spread for a numerous company 
four times a dav, is said to have w'on him the attach- 
ment of his Thanes, who were admitted to feast along 
with him, however much it might have disgusted the 
body of the people. A chronicler, writing in the 
fifteenth century, tells us the anniversary of his death 
was then continued to be celebrated as a holiday by 
the English people, under the name of Hog’s-tide, or 
Hock Wednesday. 


li 


9 ^ 


EDWAED THE C02?rESS0B. 


ANGLO-SAXON MONARCHY RESTORED. 

EEOM 1041 TO 1066. 


EDWARD THE CONFESSOR. 

The Danish yoke had become so heavily oppressive, 
that the opportunity afforded by Hardicanute’s sudden 
death, for the restoration of the Saxon line, was seized 
with eagerness. The prince whose claim stood first 
was Edward, son of Edmund Ironside, commonJy called 
Edward the Exile, hut Edward, the son of Ethelred 
and Emma, being then in England, was at once elected 
to the crown. To this the ambitious Godwin contri¬ 
buted greatly ; for, though the enemy of Edward in his 
misfortunes, and suspected of having murdered his 
brother Alfred, he had now become his most zealous 
partizan. Earl Godwin demanded, as a reward of his 
services, that Edward should accept his daughter 
Editho in marriage; this the king did, but although 
the lady was one of great beauty and merit, he dis¬ 
played no affection for her, and her life was not a 
happy one. From all accounts, although Edward was 
canonized by the popes he does not appear to have 
possessed affections of any kind. 

One of the earliest acts of Edward’s reign was to 



EDWAED THE CONFESSOR. 


99 


despoil his mother of all her possessions—induced to 
this, as is supposed, by a long-cherished resentment of 
her marriage with Canute. He compelled her to pass 
through the ordeal by fire, which was passing blind¬ 
fold over red-hot plough-shares, and suffered her to 



die in prison at Winchester, where she had been con¬ 
fined for ten years: he revoked, besides, all the grants 
made by former sovereigns to different Danish nobles, 
and, taking all into his own hands, was thus enabled 
to abolish the odious tax called the Danegelt, which 
had long pressed very heavily upon the people. 

The Normans, among whom Edward’s childhood 
had been sheltered, now received from him the most 
partial attention. This, with other causes, ofiended 
Godwin, and he was for some time at open war with 


























































100 


EDWABD THE CONEESSOR. 


the king, which ended by the banishment of the earl 
and his family into Tlanders. During the absence of 
these proud nobles, Edward was visited by his friend 
William, Duke of Normandy, who, seeing the English 
monarch without any prospect of heirs, is supposed to 
have laid at this time the foundation of that ascend¬ 
ancy which he afterwards gained in England. 

But a reconciliation was now effected between G-od- 
win and the king, wEich was followed by so manifest 
an intention on the earl’s part of securing the crown 
to his own family, that Edward, after much wavering, 
resolved to bring home his nephew Edward the Exile, 
and present him openly to the people as their future 
king. The prince did in effect arrive, but had scarcely 
done so when he died, leaving an only son, named 
Edgar Atheling, or “ the most noble,” a term believed 
then to imply “heir presumptive to the crown.” 

It happened not long after Godwin’s restoration to 
favour, that, dining with the king, the conversation 
turned on the murder of Alfred, when the earl, so¬ 
lemnly declaring himself free from all participation in 
that crime, was suddenly struck with a mortal disease ; 
and, lingering in great agony for three days following, 
he expired. 

The latter part of Edward’s reign was marked by 
an evident alienation on the part of his nobility, wEo 
attached themselves either secretly or openly to Ha¬ 
rold, the son of Earl Godwin. The character of this 
king is free from the stain of great vices; but he was 
vindictive, weak, and obstinate. He built a most fair 


nAEOLD THE SECOND. 


101 


and beautiful cburcb, by the Hiver of Thames, in the 
west of London, and another dedicated to St. Margaret, 
standing without the Abbey of Westminster. He 
died in 1066, and was buried in the new Abbey of 
Westminster, which had just been consecrated; and 
beneath the lofty windows of the southern transept 
you may see in the deep and blackened arches frag¬ 
ments of the edifice raised by Edward, supporting the 
chaste and more florid tracery of a more recent age. 
Within, stands the shrine, once rich in gems and 
gold, raised to the memory of the Confessor by the 
fond devotion of his successors, despoiled of orna¬ 
ment and crumbling to ruin, but still surmounted by 
the massy iron-bound oaken coffin, which contains the 
ashes of the last legitimate Anglo-Saxon King. 

HAEOLD THE SECOND. 

It is obvious that the true heir to the crown was now 
Edgar Atheling; but, setting his claims aside, Harold, 
the son of Earl Godwin, was crowned at St. Paul’s on 
the day of his predecessor’s interment in the Cathedral 
of Westminster. The new king immediately set him¬ 
self to the redressing of public grievances, and to the 
impartial administration of the laws. Generous, brave 
and prudent, Harold is declared to have sought the 
public good; but his labours were interrupted by an 
attack from bis own brother, Tostig, who having, by 
the just decision of Harold, been formerly expelled the 
kingdom for cruelty and oppression, now returning, 


102 


HAEOLD TllE SECOND. 


attacked Northumberland, but having laid siege to 
York was there defeated and slain by Harold. He 
was none the less the cause of his brother’s ruin: 
William of Normandy, arriving on the southern coast 
in Harold’s absence, had found the country wholly 
unprepared for defence, and had made good his land¬ 
ing without opposition. It is true that Harold in¬ 
stantly returned, but his troops were weakened, and 
his most prudent friends saw that his army was in no 
condition to meet the enemy. A short delay would 
have brought to Harold the militias of several counties, 
who were on their march to join him; but, forgetting 
his usual foresight, the king pressed on, and met 
the army of William, near Hastings, on the 14th of 
^ October. 

A battle now commenced, which continued through 
the day with many changes of fortune ; the rival com¬ 
manders distinguished themselves equally, but it was 
now evening, and the victory was undecided, when an 
arrow struck the gallant Harold, and fixed at once the 
fortune of the day. At this period, more than one- 
third of all the English lands were in the possession 
of the Catholic church, its monasteries, nunneries, &c., 
which necessarily narrowed the sovereign’s resources, 
and left him more open to the attacks of the invader; 
but notwithstanding this, the death of Harold was the 
circumstance that gave the sceptre to William. The 
force of England was unbroken; and had she retained 
her valiant leader, the Norman prince, whose resources 
were all engaged in this one struggle, would have 


HAROLD THE SECOND. 


103 


found, even though victorious, that his victory would 
presently have been followed by expulsion. 

But the supreme Disposer of events had ordered 
otherwise: our island was now to be more closely 
united with the continent, and the establishment of 
the new dynasty was, perhaps, its first step to the im¬ 
portance it has since acquired among the nations of 
Europe. The Anglo-Saxon monarchy terminated in 
Harold, after enduring, with the short interruption of 
the Anglo-Danish line, for more than 500 years. 

The long period of the Saxon domination had not, 
of course, been unmarked by some progress in the use¬ 
ful arts and civilization. In Alfred’s time, there were 
roads, houses, and towns, but how different from those 
we see around us, one fact will suffice to show: the 
good king had invented a mode of measuring time, by 
making candles of a certain weight, with rings to 
mark the lapse of twenty minutes, an hour, &c., but 
the wind came in so freely through the numerous 
crevices of his house, that the candles would not burn 
equally ; and this so puzzled the calculations of the 
king, that he was compelled to proceed to some further 
invention to remedy it; after much thought, he re¬ 
marked the transparent quality of white horn, and 
therewith made lanterns, in which the candles, being 
inclosed, burned more steadily. At this time it was 
that clothes were first made to fit the body, and cover 
the limbs; the skins of animals were no longer used 
except for bedding, and some of the rich are said to 
have had linen, although the common usage was to 


104 


A LEGEND OE HAEOLD, 


wear woollen cloth, the serfs, or slaves, wearing a 
tunic, open at the sides, and having each an iron collar 
on his neck. Beading and writing were not as yet 
much practised, except by the monks, nor were coined 
metals in common use; commodities being exchanged 
or bartered, and rents being paid in corn and cattle. 
Grates were unknown; the fires of the Saxons were 
made on the ground, and their principal mode of cook¬ 
ery was boiling, hut each person had a separate drink¬ 
ing horn; they had also knives and wooden spoons, hut 
no forks. The favourite occupation was hunting, but 
their amusements were brightening their arms, play¬ 
ing with their dogs, and listening to minstrels, or 
gleemen, and story-tellers. 

The Danes are said to have introduced the game of 
Chess, and that of Backgammon was practised among 
the Welsh. Many changes in dress were introduced 
by the Norman friends of Edward the Confessor; 
among others, loose trowsers, and some wore the cross 
gaiters now peculiar to the Highlanders. 


A LEGEND OE HAEOLD. 

The manner of Harold’s death, as described by chro¬ 
niclers and historians, is before related; but a manu¬ 
script in the British Museum has the following ac¬ 
count of the same circumstance, written, as it would 
seem, by an author who lived at no very distant period 
after the battle of Hastings. 



A LEGEND OF HAROLD. 


105 


This narrative declares, that, though previously- 
wounded, Harold was still left breathing on the field. 

Three women wandering over the field in search of 
their wounded husbands, perceived that life was still 
remaining in the body of a warrior, whose rich cloth¬ 
ing declared him of high rank. Two franklins—free 
husbandmen, that is, and in those days persons of 
some consequence—approaching at the same time, the 
king was recognized by one of them, and conveyed to 
Winchester, where he was received by the monks of 
St. Grimhald, and restored to health by a woman well 
skilled in the healing art. On his recovery, Harold 
found William well established on the throne, and 
perceiving that no effort could then avail in England, 
he proceeded to Saxony, and afterwards to Den¬ 
mark, to implore assistance, but in both these coun¬ 
tries the interest of William prevailed, and, resigning 
all hope of gaining his lost throne, Harold now jour¬ 
neyed into Palestine, where he passed many years in 
the practice of great austerities. 

His shield exchanged for the wayfarer’s scrip, his 
crest of war for a scallop-shell, and his spear of death 
for a pilgrim’s staff, Harold returned from the East 
an altered man. Age approaching, he desired to die 
in his native land; arrived at Dover, he ascended the 
cliff’s, now barefoot, and his features hidden by the 
monkish cowl, and from Kent journeying into Shrop¬ 
shire, he settled himself under the name of Christian, 
in a secluded spot, where he built himself a cell, and 
lived for some years; but the Welsh borderers mat- 


106 


A LEGEND OE HAROLD. 


treated him, and, warned bj a dream that a sanctuary 
awaited him in the church of St. John, he proceeded 
to Chester, where the said church was to be found. 
Here he discovers that a pious hermit had just died, 
and, receiving permission to instal himself as his suc¬ 
cessor, his wanderings now ceased. 

After some time it became suspected that the re¬ 
verend hermit had been once a Saxon chief; but, though 
he admitted his presence at the battle of Hastings, and 
that none had been dearer to Harold than himself, he 
would reveal nothing further, until, seven years after, 
being on his bed of death, he declared his regal sta¬ 
tion. 

Now the king had been ministered unto by a pious 
anchorite, Sebrecht by name; and this Sebrecht un¬ 
dertook a pilgrimage to the Holy Land on the death 
of his master, and returning to Chester, was then seen 
by the writer of the manuscript, who obtained from 
him the facts therein stated, the whole being confirmed 
by Michael, a canon of Waltham, who declared him¬ 
self to have been assured by Gurth, the brother of 
Harold, whom historians represent as slain with Ha¬ 
rold, but whom the manuscript asserts to have also 
survived, that the body buried by the monks of Wal¬ 
tham as Harold’s was not that of the king. 



WILLIAM THE CONQUEEOH. 


107 


THE NOEMAN LINE. 

FiiOM lOGG TO 1087. 

—♦— 

WILLIAM THE CONQUEEOK. 

This prince was the sixth sovereign of Normandy, 
from Eollo, the Dane, by whom that dukedom was 
founded. The difficulties that surrounded his acces¬ 
sion to his native principality, had rendered him an 
experienced warrior, and he followed up the success of 
Hastings with great skill. He sent the Saxon stan¬ 
dard, taken among the spoil, to the Eoman Pontiff, in 
return for a consecrated banner, which had been sent 
him by the Pope, on the occasion of his invading Eng¬ 
land, and to which he professed to ascribe all the suc¬ 
cess of his attempt. 

He next laid siege to Dover, which quickly sur¬ 
rendered, and then pursued his w^ay towards London, 
which was, meanwhile, in a state of much confusion. 
The nobles and clergy were deliberating on the elec¬ 
tion of Edgar Atheling, only surviving son of Edward 
the Exile, a man of no great capacity, and neither able 
nor willing to enter the lists with so formidable a rival 
as the Norman duke. 

But while these deliberations were pending, and 



108 


WILLIAM THE CONQUEEOR. 


before William could reach the capital, he was met at V 
Wallingford, in Berkshire, by the Primate of Eng- w 
land, the Archbishop of York, several bishops, and 1 
many nobles, among whom was Edgar Atheling him- 1 
self, who presented their submission, and made him I 
a formal offer of the crown. His coronation took place I 
on the Christmas-day following, but a tumult then I 
arose, which at first threatened very serious conse- 1| 
quences, though arising from a comparatively trifling I 

cause. ' I 

The ceremony was proceeding in the presence of a I 
vast multitude, when the Archbishop of York in- | 
quired whether all chose the Duke of Normandy for 
their king; loud acclamations replied in the affirma- 
tive, but the Norman guard stationed without, mis¬ 
took the cause of the outcry, and believed the assem¬ 
bly were offering violence to their duke. Eesolved on 
vengeance, they instantly set fire to some neighbour¬ 
ing buildings ; the flames threw the whole assemblage 
into confusion, and before these could be extinguished, j 
and order restored, much mischief was occasioned, and ! 
many lives were lost. 

The brothers of Harold’s queen, Edwin and Mor- 
kar, both noblemen of great influence, having sub¬ 
mitted to William, his triumph seemed complete; but 
he had now to perform the delicate task of making an 
adequate provision for his Norman followers, without 
exciting the jealousy of his new subjects: this he 
found a source of ceaseless troubles. The lands and 
riches of Harold, his brothers, and the chiefs who had 





WILLIAM THE CONQUEllOR. 


109 


fallen in battle around bira, were already divided among 
these rapacious chiefs; but their expectations were 
rather excited than satisfied by this: it was needful to 
devise new expedients for appeasing them, and the 
odious tax of the Danegelt, which Edward the Con¬ 
fessor had abolished, was now revived for that purpose 

The discontent this occasioned was presently ma¬ 
nifest, and during a journey that William made into 
Normandy, Kent, Herefordshire, and many of the 
northern counties, showed symptoms of revolt that 
hastened the king’s return ; tranquillity was restored 
for the moment, but a succession of revolts and con¬ 
spiracies followed, some of which were headed by the 
most powerful of the English chiefs. 

These repeated proofs of disafiection compelled the 
king from the lenient, yet firm, line of conduct he had 
hitherto pursued, and in the year 1070, he marched 
through several of the northern counties, where, defeat¬ 
ing Edgar Atheling, who had put himself at the head 
of these tumults, he destroyed men, women, and chil¬ 
dren, with indiscriminate fury, to the number, as is 
said, of a hundred thousand souls. 

The Saxons were not only disarmed, but subjected 
to many odious restrictions; among others, to that 
of the Curfew bell, which, ringing at eight o’clock 
every night, compelled all to extinguish their fires and 
candles—an ordinance instituted, as is believed, for 
the prevention of nightly meetings and conspiracies. 

William now built fortresses of great strength with¬ 
in many of the principal towns, more particularly the 


110 WILLIAM THE COHQUEEOE. 

Tower of London, and tlie Castles of Warwick, Is ot- 
tingham, and York; all tliese were intrusted to Nor¬ 
man governors. 




A second attempt being made by Edgar Atbeling, 
and again proving unsuccessful, that prince, with bis 
sisters Margaret, (of whom more hereafter,) and Chris¬ 
tina, retired into Scotland; but Edgar being afterwards 
reconciled to William, received a pension from his 
hands, and lived in quiet retirement all the remainder 
of his days. 

No such peace was granted to the conqueror him¬ 
self ; the many insurrections he had still to quell, 
would occupy more space than we can give to the nar¬ 
ration, but of one we must needs speak. This was 
headed by his own son, the eldest, Eobert, who, meet¬ 
ing his father in battle, thrust him through the arm 























WILLIAM THE CONQUEKOE. 


Ill 


writh his lance ; nor was it until the unhappy young 
man had borne his parent to the ground, that he dis¬ 
covered whom it was that he assailed; then, struck 
with remorse, he raised the king from his fallen posi¬ 
tion, and humbly entreated for pardon. 

That great record called the Domesday-book, which 
, ) is still extant, was compiled in William’s reign, and by 
his orders. It contains an exact account of all lands 
throughout England, their proprietors, the conditions 
by which they were held, with the number of cattle and 
of villeins or slaves, that every man possessed;—yes, 
slaves, for the labourers of England were not then free 
men as they are now, but were still serfs as in the 
Saxon times, and still wore the collar of iron about 
their necks, by which they were at once recognized if 
they escaped from their owners. 

One oppressive act of William’s reign was the dis¬ 
peopling of all that fruitful country from Salisbury 
unto the sea, and the dedicating of the same unto wild 
beasts and game. The “ Saxon Chronicle ” says on 
the subject of his game laws :—“ He appointed many 
deer forests, and established laws concerning them, 
that whosoever should slay hart or hind, man should 
blind him ; he so very much loved wild deer as if he 
were their father, so he ordered of hares that they 
must go free.” 

But having recorded the evil deeds of this monarch, 
we must not omit to tell you that among many which 
he performed of good and useful, was the founding of 
St. Saviour’s Church, in Southwark, with many rich 




112 


WILLIAM THE COKQUEEOE 


cliurclies and abbeys in other parts of the kingdom, 
particularly one called Battle Abbey, erected on the 
spot where his victory was gained over Harold. The 
Tower of London was also first begun to be built in 
this reign. 



A war with France having caused William again to 
visit the continent, he exerted himself so much, that, 
being in a weak state of health, he fell ill at Eouen, 
and died there on the 9th of September 1087, in the 
sixty-third year of his age and the twenty-first of his 
reign. The particulars of his death afford a fearful 
lesson; having taken the town of Mantes, he com¬ 
manded it to be burnt, and, disregarding his own weak 
health, rode about, directing the progress of that con- 















































WILLIAM THE COUQUEROE. 


113 


flagration, in whicli numbers of his fellow creatures 
were perishing. Thus employed, his horse stepped on 
the hot ashes, plunged violently, and so injured his 
rider that he died in consequence. 

In the ‘‘Saxon Chronicle” before referred to, is a 
notice of this monarch, written by one who had fre¬ 
quent opportunities of observing him closely. 

“ If any person wdsh to know what kind of man he 
was, or what honour he had, or of how many lands he 
was lord, then will we write about him as well as we 
understand him ; we who often looked upon him, and 
lived some time in his court. This King William, 
then, that we speak about was a very wise man, and 
very rich; more splendid and powerful than any of his 
predecessors were. He loved much, and overmuch, 
covetousness in gold and silver, and recked not how 
sinfully it was got, provided it came to him. He was 
beyond all measure severe to the men that gainsayed 
his will; so very stern was he also, and hot, that no 
man durst do anything against his will: bishops he 
hurled from their bishoprics, and abbots from their 
abbacies, and thanes into prison—at length he spared 
not his own brother Odo, who was a very rich bishop 
in Hormandy : him he cast into prison. Assuredly 
in his time had men much distress and very many 
sorrows : castles he let men build, and miserably svoink 
the poor. Many marks of gold, and many hundred 
pounds of silver he took from his people for little need 
by right and by unright. He was fallen into covetous 
ness, and greediness he loved withal; his rich men be 

T 


114 WILLIAM THE CONQUEfiOE. 

moaned it, and the poor shuddered at it, but he was so 
stern that he recked not the hatred of them all; for 
they must follow withal the king’s will if they would 
live, or have land, or even peace. But among other 
things is not to be forgotten that good order that he 
made in this land, so that a man might go over his 
kingdom unhurt with his bosom full of gold; no man 
durst let or stay another. He truly reigned over 
England; the land of the Britons was in his hand; 
so also he subdued Scotland, but, alas, that any man 
should presume so to puff himself up, and boast over 
all men, as did this king: may God show mercy to his 
soul, and grant him forgiveness of his sins.” 

William married Matilda, the daughter of Baldwin, 
Earl of Elanders, and had four sons, Eobert, Eichard, 
William, and Henry: by the two last named he was 
in turn succeeded. He had also five daughters. 

In this reign Jews are sometimes said to have been 
first permitted to settle in England, and long bows 
were first used; Wales was subjugated by William, 
and Malcolm, King of Scotland, was compelled to do 
him homage. The first black man ever seen in Eng¬ 
land is said to have arrived in this reign. 

That William the Conqueror would have found it im¬ 
possible to make good his claim on the English throne 
—even though he had been victorious at Hastings— 
had not the death of her brave monarch left the country 
without a rallying point, is declared by the best au¬ 
thorities. Tliat he was opposed by many isolated chiefs^ 
even after that grievous loss, is also well known; and 


HEEEWAED LE WAKE. 


115 


of all the Saxon warriors who distinguished themselves 
by opposition to the Norman, the most celebrated and 
most successful was 

Heeewaed Le Wake, 

whose memory was long dear to the people of England, 
and whose exploits were handed down in their tra¬ 
ditionary songs, from generation to generation. 

Showing a somewhat turbulent spirit in early youth, 
his father, the Lord of Bourn, in Lincolnshire, had sent 
him into foreign lands, where he earned the reputation 
of a fearless warrior. He was in Flanders at the time 
of the conquest, but, hearing that his father was dead, 
and his mother driven from her home by a Norman 
lord, he returned to his native country, procured 
knighthood from his uncle. Brand, Abbot of Peter¬ 
borough—for without this the usages of the times 
did not permit his commanding others—collected his 
vassals, and drove out the foreign usurper from his 
ancestral domains. The fame of this exploit drew 
fresh adherents to his standard, and Hereward soon 
found himself at the head of a band whose valour and 
hardihood, aided by the natural fastnesses of his retreat 
in the Isle of Ely, enabled him to set the whole power 
of the Conqueror at defiance. 

The Saxon Abbot of Peterborough died before the 
close of the year 1069, and thus escaped the punish¬ 
ment which his blessing the sword of an enemy to the 
Normans, would probably have brought on him. Wil¬ 
liam gave the vacant abbey to Toroid, a foreign monk. 


116 


HEBEWAED LE WAXE. 


wlio was probably thought a fit neighbour for Here- 
ward, because already remarkable for his military 
propensities. 

Nothing daunted by the prospect before him, Toroid 
set out for his new benefice with a guard of a hundred 
and sixty Trench horsemen; he had already reached 
Stamford, when the Saxon leader appeared at the gates 
of Medeshampsted, as Peterborough was then called, 
and, finding the monks altogether disinclined to defend 
it against the Norman abbot and his men-at-arms, he 
set fire to the town, and, having seized all the treasures 
of the Monastery, gave that also to the flames !—such 
were the barbarous modes of warfare of those days. 

Toroid now called in the aid of Ive Taillebois, Nor¬ 
man commander of the district, upheld by whom, he 
resolved on a military expedition against the warlike 
Saxon. But matters went badly for the Abbot-mili¬ 
tant, for, whilst Taillebois penetrated the forest by 
which the Saxon flank was defended, on the one side, 
Hereward went out on the other, and surprising the 
abbot and his party, who were lingering in the rear 
—not just then disposed to hazard the rude chances 
of battle—he took them all prisoners, and kept them 
in the fens that surrounded his retreat until they had 
purchased their freedom wdth a sum of 3000 marks. 

A Danish fleet meanwhile arrived at Ely; but Wil¬ 
liam, becoming alarmed, withdrew these from Here- 
ward, whom they had engaged to assist, by paying them 
a large bribe. He then invested the camp of the Saxons, 
(who had now been joined by Morcar, and most of the 


HEEEWAED LE WAKE. 


117 


exiles returned from Scotland,) on all sides witli his 
fleet and army. He constructed bridges and solid 
roads across the marshes, to facilitate the movements 
of his troops, but Here ward so impeded the labours of 
the assailants, by incessant irruptions on all sides, that 
William began to despair of subduing this handful of 
men, and at last was inclined to think with Taillebois, 
that the Saxons prevailed by the help of Satan. 

Arrived at this sage conclusion, the governor pre¬ 
vailed on William to employ a sorceress! who, by the 
superior efflcacy of her spells, might defeat those of 
the English magicians—to which he, Ive Taillebois, 
attributed all their success. The sorceress was pro¬ 
cured accordingly, and installed with great state in a 
lofty wooden tower, from which she could overlook the 
operations of the soldiers and labourers. But Here- 
ward, seizing a favourable opportunity, set fire to the 
dry reeds in the neighbourhood—a high wind spread 
the conflagration, and enveloped the enchantress and 
her guards in a circle of fire, which destroyed them all. 

Notwithstanding the immense superiority of the 
king’s forces, Hereward’s ceaseless activity baffled his 
every efibrt for many months, and would have held the 
Norman power at bay still longer, had not treachery 
seconded the assailants. 

There was a convent of monks in the Isle of Ely, 
who were unable to endure the famine that had long 
been suffered there. These men sent a message to 
William’s camp, ofiering to point out a path by which 
he might cross the morass that defended the Saxon 


118 


HEREWABD LE WAKE. 


Hold, proYided he would guarantee them the safety of 
their possessions. Their proposal was accepted, the 
Norman troops, guided bj the treacherous monks, 
penetrated unexpectedly into Hereward’s camp, where 
they killed one thousand of his followers and compelled 
the rest to lay down their arms. All surrendered, ex¬ 
cept Hereward himself and a small band of his most 
determined adherents, who cut their way through the 
Norman forces into the lowlands of Lincoln. Here 
some Saxon fishermen, who carried their fish for sale 
every day to a Norman garrison in the neighbourhood, 
received their fugitive countrymen into their boats, 
and hid them under heaps of straw. The boats ap¬ 
proached the Norman station as usual, and the garrison, 
knowing the fishermen by sight, made their purchase 
of fish, and sat quietly down to their meal. But while 
thus engaged, Hereward and his followers rushed upon 
them with their battle-axes, and were presently masters 
of the place. 

This coup-de-main was followed by numerous other 
exploits; until at last, after great battles, and a thou¬ 
sand dangers—frequently braved and nobly terminated 
—as well against the King of England as against his 
earls, barons, prefects, and presidents, which are yet 
sung in our streets; and after having fully avenged 
his mother’s wrongs with his own powerful right hand, 
Hereward obtained his paternal inheritance and the 
king’s pardon, and so ended his days in peace. 


WILLIAM ELIUS. 


110 


WILLIAM II., SUENAMED EUEUS. 

1087 TO 1100. 

- « - 

The last sovereign is said to have felt so much remorse 
on his death-bed for the cruelties committed against 
his English subjects, that he dared not appoint a suc¬ 
cessor to that kingdom, but expressed a wish that his 
second son, 'William, might possess it. To his eldest 
son, Eobert, he left the Dukedom of Normandy. 
Henry, the youngest, seeing himself passed over, in¬ 
quired what was to be his portion. Being answered 
that he should have 500 pounds of silver from the 
treasury, he complained that no territory was given 
him, but his father exhorted him to patience, and 
recommended the care of his fortunes to his elder 
brothers. 

William Eufus was crowned king at Westminster 
by Lanfranc, Archbishop of Canterbury, his friend 
and tutor. This prelate, an Italian by birth, and one 
of the most excellent men of his time, had been much 
trusted by William I., and duriog his life he greatly 
influenced the second sovereign of that name ; but he, 
dying, was succeeded by Anselm, whose injudicious 
severity exasperated the king, and occasioned much 
evil to the country. 




120 


WILLIAM RUFUS. 


William’s repose was first troubled by bis uncle, 
Odo, Bishop of Bayeux, who conspired to place Eobert 
on the throne; but the clergy and nobles effected a 
compromise, by which Eufus agreed to pay his elder 
brother £5000 a year, and to sufier Odo’s unmolested 
retreat into Normandy, where his nepbew Eobert’s 
careless administration gave that turbulent church¬ 
man ample employment. 

Determined to avenge his late disgrace, William 
soon after invaded Normandy, but again became re¬ 
conciled to his brother, when an agreement was en¬ 
tered into to the effect, that, if either died without 
children, the other should be his successor. 

Soon after this, William undertook an expedition 
against the Welsh, whom he punished severely for 
their continual incursions. He next marched an army 
against Malcolm, King of Scotland: but that prince, 
being advised to conciliate William, attended a con¬ 
ference at Grloucester, for the purpose of treating for 
peace. Here, believing himself slighted, he took affront, 
and left the place without having seen the English 
king; but on his return he fell into an ambush laid 
by Eobert Mowbray, Earl of Northumberland, and 
was killed, to the great regret of William, who for 
this and other offences threw Mowbray into prison, 
where he died. 

The death of Malcolm is thus described:— 
Besieging Alnwick, a knight, on the part of Wil¬ 
liam, pretended to present him with the keys of that 
city, but instead of doing so, he drove his spear into the 


WILLIAM RUFUS. 


121 


monarcli’s eye, and tlius occasioned his death.” Wil- 
liamEufus is said to have thence named this treacherous 
soldier Pierce-eye, whence comes the name of Percy. 



It was at this period that Peter the Hermit, a monk 
of Picardy, began to preach the first Crusade: in other 
words, to exhort all Christian kings and knights to 
expel the infidels from Jerusalem, which city had been 
long in their possession. Eobert of Normandy was 
among the most eager of those who sought to follow 
the counsels of the monk, and pledged his dukedom of 
Normandy to William for 10,000 marks. The Earl 
of Guienne and Poictou, requiring money for the same 
purpose, mortgaged his dominions to William in like 
manner. But when the latter was on the point of 
leaving England, to take possession of his newly 















122 


WILLIAM EUl’US. 


acquired provinces, he was shot by accident while 
hunting in the New Forest, as some say by an arrow 
from the bow of Sir Walter Tyrrel; but this has re¬ 
mained doubtful. 

Whether by Sir Walter’s hand or some other, how¬ 
ever, and whether by accident or design, it seems 
certain that the body of the slain monarch was thrown 
with little reverence into the cart of a passing rustic ; 
this man was called Purkis, a name still very common 
in the New Forest. It is even said that a wheel of the 
cart above alluded to is still to be seen in the posses¬ 
sion of a descendant from the driver of the royal corpse. 

It was in William’s reign that the sea overwhelmed 
a portion of Kent, part of Earl Godwin’s domains, and 
turned it into a tract known and dreaded by navigators 
to this day as the Godwin Sands. William built 
Westminster Hall, and enlarged the Tower of London, 
and died A.D. 1100, in the forty-third year of his age. 




























































THE STEDFAST CONYEET. 


]23 


THE STEDEAST CONYEET. 

It has been asserted by many historians, as before re¬ 
marked, that William the Conqueror brought the first 
Jewish settlers into England ; but Doctor Tovey, in his 
“Anglia Judaica,” has shown that this remarkable 
people had appeared here even before the year 740, 
when a prohibition was published by Egbricht, Arch¬ 
bishop of York, in the “ Canonical Excerptions,” for¬ 
bidding all Christians to be present at the Jewish 
feasts, and which is indeed the earliest mention our 
English annals make of this nation, the grievous op¬ 
pressions of whom, under the sovereigns of our country, 
will furnish us many sad stories. Here is one, of the 
reign of Eufus. 

One lamentable efiect of his uncle Odo’s severity 
had been to make William fearfully irreligious, and he 
caused a disputation to be held in his presence, by 
certain rabbins, against the divines of the Christian 
faith, for no other purpose than that of making sport 
for himself and his courtiers; declaring, nevertheless, 
‘‘ By the face of St. Luke,” his favourite asseveration, 
“that he would abide by whichever creed should be 
pronounced victorious!” It is needless to say that 
the Christian doctors prevailed; but a circumstance 
followed that serves to show how truly the chronicler 
Stow declares that the arguments he had heard had 
produced no good efiect upon Eufiis, who “was no 



124 


THE STEDFAST COISTVERT. 


otherwise a Christian than by name.” This fact is 
related by Holinshed. 

“ The king being at Eouen, there came to him divers 
Jews who inhabited that city, complaining that divers 
of that nation had renounced their Jewish religion, 
and were become Christians ; wherefore they besought 
him that, for a certain sum of money which they 
offered to give, it might please him to constrain them 
to abjure Christianity, and turn to the Jewish law 
again. He was content to satisfy their desires ; and 
BO, receiving their money, called them before him, and 
what with threats and putting them otherwise in fear, 
he compelled divers of them to forsake Christ, and 
turn to their old errors ! Hereupon the father of one 
Stephen, a Jew converted to the Christian faith, being 
sore troubled that his son was turned a Christian, and 
hearing what the king had done in like matters, pre¬ 
sented unto him sixty marks of silver, conditionally, 
that he should enforce his son to return to the Jewish 
religion. Whereupon the young man was brought 
before the king, unto whom the king said, ‘ Sirrah! 
thy father here complaineth that, without his licence, 
thou art become a Christian; if this be true, I com¬ 
mand thee to return again to the religion of thy nation 
without any more adoe.’ To whom the young man 
answered, ‘Tour Grace, as I guess, doth but jest.’ 
Wherewith the king being moved, said, ‘ What! thou 
dunghill knave, would I jest with thee ? Get thee 
hence and fulfil my commandment, or by St. Luke’s 
face I shall cause thine eyes to be plucked out of thine 


THE STEDEAST CONVEET. 


125 


bead!’ The young man, nothing abashed thereat, 
with a constant voice answered, ‘ Truly I will not do 
it; but know for certain, that, if you were a good 
Christian, you would never have uttered any such 
words, for it is the part’of a Christian to reduce them 
again to Christ which are departed from him, and not 
to separate them from him which are joined to him 
by faith.’ The king, herewith confounded, com¬ 
manded the Jew to get him out of his - sight; but he, 
perceiving that the king could not persuade his son to 
forsake the Christian faith, required to have his money 
again, which the king refused; but at length, ‘ to stop 
his mouth,’ tendered him back half his money, and 
kept the other himself! All which increased the sus¬ 
picions men had, that William E-ufus was an infidel.” 





126 


HENEX I. 


HENEY I., SUENAMED BEAUCLEEC. 

1100 TO 1135. 

The right of the crown lay now in E-ohert of Nor¬ 
mandy, but Eobert was in the Holy Land; Henry 
was hunting in a different part of the very forest 
wherein his brother was slain, and instead of paying 
the last duties to the body, he left it to be taken to its 
burial in the cart of a passing countryman, while he 
hastened to Winchester, seized the royal treasure, and, 
proceeding to London, was elected King, and crowned 
three days after his brother’s death. 

This success was in great part attributable to the 
gifts which Henry’s seizure of the Winchester trea¬ 
sures had enabled him to make; and these he became 
possessed of only by threatening their keeper, William 
de Breteuil, with instant death on his refusal to sur¬ 
render them. Yet he began his reign with many 
popular measures ; he recalled Anselm, Archbishop of 
Canterbury, whom William had banished; abolished 
many of his brother’s oppressive taxes, granted many 
privileges to the barons, and restored to the people their 
Anglo-Saxon laws as amended by his father. 

This prince, whose youth had been one of much ad- 



HENRY I. 


127 


versitj, was one of the most learned monarchs of his 
age, and he acquired the surname of 'Beauclerc, or 
“fine scholar.” He was thirty-two years old at his 
accession, and gratified the nation very highly by 
taking for wife the daughter of that excellent Queen 
of Scotland, Margaret. 

When Eobert returned to his ISTorman duchy, which 
he did about a month after William’s death, he there 
found many chiefs, both Norman and English, who 
exhorted him to assert his right to the English crown, 
In pursuance of these councils, Eobert did, in fact, as¬ 
semble an army, with which he landed in England; 
but the king’s popularity and large forces left him 
little chance of success, and the zealous, though not 
always judicious, Anselm, found no difficulty in per¬ 
suading him to a compromise, whereby it was agreed 
that Henry should pay him 3000 marks a year. 

Some historians accuse Henry of insincerity in this 
treaty, declaring he never meant to fulfil its terms; 
others defend him from this charge, and attribute his 
invasion of Normandy, which took place soon after, to 
an invitation from the Norman chiefs and clergy, who, 
comparing the frightful disorders of their own country 
with the prosperity of Henry’s well governed kingdom, 
entreated the latter to come to their aid. Be this as 
it may, certain it is, that in a battle fought at Tenche- 
brai, in Normandy, Eobert was taken prisoner by his 
brother, with—as Henry himself declares in a letter 
to the Archbishop Anselm—“little loss or labour,” 
although Eobert himself fought with that courage for 




128 


HENET I. 


whicli he had become celebrated in Palestine, and 
which contrasted violently with the sloth he is charged 
with in governing his duchy. 

Historians are much divided as to the facts, but 
agree that Eobert was kept in prison for the remainder 
of his life, a period of twenty-eight years; and AVil- 
liam of Malmesbury, who lived at this period, declares 
that Eobert had nothing to complain of but his im¬ 
prisonment, which was rendered as tolerable to him as 
imprisonment could be, by the king’s great lenity. 

Henry had next to contend with the power of the 
Church: he demanded that the right to ecclesiastical 
appointments should be vested in the Crown, and not 
in the Eoman See; the Pope refused for a long time 
to grant him this power, but was at length compelled 
to yield. 

The latter years of Henry’s reign were by no means 
so prosperous as the earlier ones. In the year 1118, 
he lost his queen, Matilda, a woman of great excellence, 
together with a most valuable counsellor, Eobert de 
Mellont. In the following year an insurrection broke 
out in Normandy, having for its object to place the 
son of Eobert, a young prince whose short life was one 
of great promise, on the ducal seat. This he quelled 
by great effort and able negociations; but the satis¬ 
faction his success may have given him was destroyed 
by the loss of his son. Prince William, who was 
drowned, together with many of the young nobles, his 
companions, on his return from the Continent to 
England. 


HENET I. 


129 


The particulars of this melancholy occurrence are 
thus related:— 

The fleet destined for the return of the royal party 
from Normandy to England was lying in the port of 
Harfleur, in the month of December, 1120, and all 
things were ready for the reception of the voyagers. 
They were on the point of weighing anchor, when a 
Norman mariner, called Fitz-Stephen, approaching 
the king and presenting him with a mark of gold, 
thus addressed him:—“ Etienne, son of Herard, my 
father, all his life, followed thy father on the sea; he 
steered the vessel in which thy father sailed to the 
conquest of England. I ask of thee that thou wouldst 
grant me the like honour. I have a ship, called La 
Blanche Nef, in readiness for thee: sail in her as thy 
father did in the ship of my father.” 

The king replied that it was too late to change the 
vessel destined for his own conveyance, but that in 
consideration of the request of a son of Etienne, the 
young prince and all the treasure should be confided 
to his safe conduct. This compromise being accepted, 
the king embarked and reached England in safety. 
Blit Prince AYilliam spent several hours on deck, 
feasting and dancing with his gay and thoughtless 
companions, before he would permit the anchor of the 
Blanche Nef to be lifted. 

The vessel was manned by fifty skilful rowers; the 
son of Etienne was at the helm, and they held their 
course rapidly under a clear moon, coasting along 
Normandy before reaching the open sea. The rowers, 

K 


130 


HENET I. 


stimulated by the wine, with which in the riot of the 
moment they had been too plentifully supplied, re¬ 
solved on attempting to overtake the vessel of the 
king; but, too eager to accomplish this, they in¬ 
cautiously entangled themselves among the rocks by 
which that dangerous coast is protected. The hand 
of the helmsman proved untrue, and, amidst the shouts 
and merriment of her disorderly company, the White 
Ship struck with all the velocity of her course, and 
immediately began to fill. 



Prince William was instantly lowered into a boat, 
and might with ease have reached the shore, but the 
screams of his sister Adela recalled him to her aid; 
numbers rushed into the small boat as she once more 
approached the sinking bark, and she was instantly 


HENRY I. 


131 


swamped, all within perishing immediately! The 
ship itself went down very soon after, and all on board 
—to the number of three hundred persons, among 
whom were one hundred and forty of the Norman 
nobility, with eighteen noble ladies—were buried in 
the waves. 

The ‘despairing cry of the sufferers was heard from 
the other vessels, already far at sea, but no one dared 
even to suspect the extent of the mischief that had 
happened, and all proceeded quietly on their course. 
Out of all the gay crowds that had so joyously em¬ 
barked, two only saved themselves by clinging to a 
yard. Pitz-Stephen sunk with the rest, but rising 
to the surface, and well able to swim, he made for 
these men, calling out, “ The Prince! what has be¬ 
come of the Prince ?” “ We have seen no more of 

him, nor of his brother, nor of his sister, nor of any 
of their companions,” was the mournful reply. 

“ Woe is me !” exclaimed the despairing captain; 
he too might have held by the spar, but hearing the 
tidings that had been given him, he refused all further 
effort, and voluntarily sank beneath the waves. 

The night was extremely cold, and the weaker of 
the two survivors, benumbed and worn out by his 
sufferings, lost his grasp of the spar, and sank while 
in the act of expressing a hope that his companion 
might hold out better, and this prayer was heard. 
Berauld, the last survivor, and among the humblest 
of all who had entered that ill-fated bark, was wrapped 
in the sheep-skin doublet of the Norman peasant: this 


132 


HENPvT 1. 


saved him from expiring of cold. He continued to 
support himself on the surface until morning, when 
he was picked up by a fishing-boat, and from his lips 
the details given above were gained. 

It is said that for many days after the fatal in¬ 
telligence had readied England, there was no one who 
could be prevailed on to communicate the terrible 
secret to the king; naturally alarmed by his son’s 
delay, he yet persisted in maintaining that the prince 
had chosen to put in at some distant port; nor could 
the melancholv looks of those around him induce the 
unhappy father to turn his thoughts towards the 
dreadful truth. At length a boy was instructed to 
throw himself weeping at the king’s feet, and by a 
series of questions the wretched father at length 
elicited the lamentable fate of his children. But all 
these precautions to break the matter gradually, could 
not ward ofi* the anguish of the blow. Henry fainted 
when his loss became apparent, and wuas never after¬ 
wards seen to smile. 

Henry never recovered from the effects of this 
grievous accident. He married Adelais, daughter of 
Godfrey, Earl of Louvain, and, having no heir, he 
caused his nobles to swear allegiance to his daughter 
Matilda, widow of Henry lY., Emperor of Germany, 
and wife to Geoffrey Plantagenet, Earl of Anjou. 

To this lady and her children Henry was much at¬ 
tached ; he spent the last years of his life with themj 
and died in Normandy in 1135, after a reign of thirty- 
six years. 


HENRY I 


133 


The character of Henry is sufficiently indicated by 
the facts we have related. In a moral view, it was 
detestable; but his policy and craft evinced great 
ability. In the midst of all his profligacy and un¬ 
scrupulous ambition, he cherished a love of learning, 
and in his leisure hours sought the society of learned 
men. His government, although tyrannical, was a 
great improvement on that of his father and elder 
brother. There can be no doubt but that the country 
made considerable social progress during his reign. 



It was in this reign that the fine Keep of Rochester 
Castle was erected; the builder was Pandulph, Bishop 
of Bochester, and the most celebrated architect of his 









UEIUN or STEPHEN. 




EEIQN OF STEPHEN. 

1135 TO 1154 
—♦— 

This prince, whose mother was sister to Henry I., had 
taken the oath of allegiance to Matilda, but this did 
not prevent him from seizing the crown on his uncle’s 
death; his coronation took place at Westminster, on 
the 26th of December, 1135. 

The principal agent of Stephen in this unprincipled 
action was his brother Henry, Bishop of Winchester, 
the Pope’s Legate in England. The prelate had been 
principally educated in England, as well as Stephen, 
and both had been loaded with benefits by the uncle 
wEose daughter they had so ungratefully displaced. 

Stephen’s manners were popular and conciliating; 
he had gained the clergy by his earliest gifts. He 
won the barons by granting them the privilege of 
fortifying their castles, and making w^ar on each other 
at their pleasure, and made himself acceptable to the 
people by the repeal of many obnoxious laws. His 
court was one of great magnificence. At peace wfith 
Prance, he even conciliated the husband of Matilda, 
by granting him a pension of 5000 marks yearly. 

Stephen was brave, generous, and merciful; but 



REIGIT or STEPHEN. 



Steplien soon saw himself deserted hy many of his 
friends, and among others by his own brother, the 


135 

his usurpation tarnished all his good qualities, and 
he had reigned three years only, when its evil con¬ 
sequences began to assail him. His first unpopular 
act was an attempt to seize the person of Hobert of 
Grloucester, Matilda’s brother, who was greatly re¬ 
spected. Being attacked by the Scots, he hired 
mercenary troops from all countries, who filled the 
land with their disorders. The friends of Matilda 
thought the occasion a fair one for their purposes; 
she landed at Arundel, 1139, with a few attendants, 
and Stephen, with the courtesy demanded from knight¬ 
hood in that day, gave her a safe conduct to the castle 
of her brother, w’hom she found at Bristol with 150 
knights only. 












136 


llEIGN or STEPHEN. 


Bisliop of Wincliester. All historians give a frightful 
picture of the state of England at this time; famine 
prevailed to a terrible extent, and one old writer has 
recorded, that “ you might see towns of famous name 
void of all their inhabitants.” 

The Earl of Gloucester held the Castle of Bristol, 
and Stephen besieged it, but was captured. 

Stephen thus lying prisoner, Matilda, his cousin, 
was crowned at Westminster; but she is accused of 
extreme arrogance in her prosperity. Many nobles 
offered themselves as hostages for Stephen, and joined 
his wife in imploring her husband’s liberty, but their 
prayers were haughtily rejected by Matilda; she re¬ 
voked the grants lately made to the clergy, attainted 
many barons, and so enraged the inhabitants of Lon¬ 
don in particular, that they broke into open revolt. 

A severe struggle now ensued, in which Matilda, 
the queen of Stephen, took a distinguished part. 
The Earl of Gloucester was in his turn taken 
prisoner, and being exchanged for the king, the con¬ 
test afterwards went on with increased fury, till the 
death of Gloucester put an end to his sister’s hopes, 
and she retired with her son Henry to his father’s 
territory of Anjou. 

This young prince is said to have been distinguished 
from childhood for great talent and bravery; he suc¬ 
ceeded his father in the earldoms of Anjou, Tours, 
and Maine. The death of Stephen’s only son, Eustace, 
opened for Henry a path to the dukedom of Hor- 
mandy, and all Stephen’s efforts to counteract his 


THE ONE ENGLISH PONTIEE. 


137 


influence there were vain; be married Eleanor of 
France, and, enriched by her large provinces of 
Guienne and Poictou, added to his many other ad¬ 
vantages, he was enabled to attack Stephen with 
great vigour. 

Henry’s landing was followed by many demonstra¬ 
tions in his favour, hut the friends of Stephen found 
means to conclude a treaty with him, by which it was 
agreed that Stephen should retain the crown during 
his life, but should acknowledge Henry his heir. 
Soon after the completion of this compact, the king 
died at Dover, October 25th, 1154, in the fiftieth year 
of his age. 

More than eleven hundred castles are said to have 
been erected in Stephen’s reign, but many of these 
were afterwards pulled down by himself. 


THE ONE ENGLISH PONTIFF. 

The papal throne has been occupied by one English¬ 
man, and one only, but this is a remark so constantly 
reiterated, that it is most probably familiar to you; 
and my principal motive for choosing this solitary 
English pope as the subject of a narrative, is that his 
life presents us with a significant picture of the papal 
power as it existed in Stephen’s day, with whom this 
pontiff was strictly contemporary, and will assist you 



138 


THE ONE ENGLISH PONTIEF. 


in your observations of its gradual, though very slow, 
decadence. 

Adrian lY., whose original name was Nicholas 
Breakespeare, was the son of a servitor in the monas¬ 
tery of St. Albans, and while a youth was obliged to 
perform the most menial offices for his daily bread. 
Desirous of entering as a brother of the monastery, he 
was rejected by the Abbot Bichard, whom Matthew 
Paris represents as exclaiming, “ AYait, my son, till you 
are better qualified.” The very moderate information, 
however, which then sufficed to qualify a monk, to¬ 
gether with the extraordinary talents certainly pos¬ 
sessed by Nicholas, would make it probable that the 
real grounds of his exclusion was the superior’s own 
ignorance; be that as it may, the reproaches and 
bitter treatment of his father, as consequent upon this 
failure, drove the future pontiff to seek his fortunes 
abroad, and though half starved, he yet pursued his 
studies with the most unremitting assiduity. He 
afterwards went into Provence, and became servitor 
in the monastery of St. Bufus ; here his obliging dis¬ 
position, his diligence in study, and above all, the 
profound observance he paid to his superiors, not only 
gained for him admittance to the brotherhood, but 
lifted him rapidly from office to office, until, at the 
death of the Abbot AVilliam in 1137, brother Nicholas 
was elected his successor. 

But the cringing servant became a tyrannical master, 
as might have been expected; his monks brought 
various accusations against him before Eugenius III., 


TilE ONE ENGLISH PONTIFF. 139 

and our Abbot Nicholas was summoned to Home. 
Here Pope Eugenius, discovering his great talents, 
resolved on retaining him in his own immediate ser¬ 
vice ; he dismissed the good monks, with permission 
to elect themselves an abbot more to their liking. 
“This man,” said he, significantly, to the fraternity 
of St. Hufns,—“ This man shall be no burthen to you.” 
After this he rose with astonishing rapidity, became 
Bishop of Albano, was created Cardinal, and in 1154 
he succeeded Anastasius, the short-lived successor of 
Eugenius, to the papal crown, when Nicholas Breake- 
speare became Adrian IV. 

Soon after his exaltation, the Abbot of St. Albans 
appeared before the pontifical footstool, as bearer of the 
English sovereign’s congratulations (Henry II., had 
just ascended the throne), and bringing valuable 
presents from his monastery. “Not so,” remarked 
Adrian, half jestingly, to the abbot, “I will not accept 
your gifts, because when I wished to take the habit of 
your monastery you would not accept meT The ab¬ 
bot, who perfectly understood the difference between 
Nicholas, a servitor’s son, and the sovereign pontiff 
Adrian, replied courteously, “ It was not for us to op¬ 
pose the will of Heaven, which had destined you for 
greater things,” a compliment that gained him valuable 
privileges for his monastery. 

That ambition was the ruling principle of Adrian’s 
character is manifested by his whole life. When 
Henry demanded permission for the conquest of Ire¬ 
land, the fatherly benediction of his holiness was at 




140 


THE ONE ENGLISH PONTIEE. 


'll 


once accorded to the supplicating monarch, the mani¬ 
fest injustice of the design nothing hindering. “We 
do grant you full liberty to make a descent on that 
island, dear son,” he graciously remarks, “for indeed 
it is certain, that all places enlightened by Christ are 
unquestionably St. Peter’s right, and belong to the 
holy E-oman Church.” 

Whenever Adrian perceived himself the weaker 
party, the old cringing habits of the servitor were at 
once resumed with the utmost facility, as was proved 
by his conduct, in a quarrel that arose out of the affairs 
of Sicily, with the Emperor Erederic. But if he did no 
great honour to his exalted situation, neither does it 
seem to have secured his happiness. John of Salis¬ 
bury, a learned and distinguished Englishman of the 
period, declares that Adrian complained to him that 
“ his crown seemed to have been put burning upon his 
head,” and for all the consolation to be gained by this 
avowal, he was bitterly reproved by Salisbury for his 
restless ambition and insolent pride. 

Pope Adrian wore his “ burning crown” some five 
years only, since he died in che year 1159. 



Travelling in time of the Plantagenet 


















































HENEY IT. 


341 


HOUSE OF PLANTAOENET. 

HENEY THE SECOND. 

1154 TO 1189.' 


The claim of tliis prince to the English throne was 
happily free from doubt: his mother was the daughter 
of Matilda of Scotland, a direct descendant of Edmund 
Ironside; he was crowned by Theobald, Archbishop 
of Canterbury, on the 19th of December, 1154. 

The large continental possessions of Henry might 
have justified his pretensions to an extended dominion, 
but a love of warfare did not distinguish his character. 
Not that he wanted personal activity ; on the contrary, 
his incessant love of motion, and ardour in the chase, 
mor^ particularly, is described as fatiguing his whole 
court. He was fond of literature, was himself learned 
for the day in which he lived, and greatly encouraged 
the troubadours, or minstrels, who were then uni¬ 
versally popular. 

The early acts of Henry’s reign were marked by 
much foresight and wisdom; he dismissed the late 
king’s foreign troops, destroyed many of those castles 
that are described as dens of robbers, restored the coin- 
age, which had been greatly debased, and revoked 


142 


HE^TIT IT 



many grants made by bis predecessors; for all which 
he took the consent of Parliament, which then con¬ 
sisted of the clergy and nobles only. 




An expedition against the Welsh was carried into 
effect with great energy; it was one of much peril, 
but ended in the subjugation of the Welsh monarch, 














































































HENRI II. 


143 


wlio was compelled to cede a portion of liis dominions, 
and to hold the remainder as a vassal of England. 

The power of the clergy was at this time very great, 
and the king, desiring to lessen it, resolved on raising 
his intimate friend, Thomas a Becket, whom he had 
previously made Chancellor, to the Archbishopric of 
Canterbury; to this there was great opposition, Becket 
not being a churchman, and the king prevailed only 
with great difficulty. But the new prelate was far 
from responding to Henry’s expectations ; once a mem¬ 
ber of the priesthood, he became the most ardent 
champion of its rights, and the more dangerous a one, 
because he was a man of great talent and address. 
From being the king’s chosen companion, he now be¬ 
came his opponent, and a long contest between them 
was terminated only by the wicked murder of Becket, 
who was slain at the altar by four knights, of whose 
intentions Henry solemnly declared himself innocent, 
but was never thoroughly cleared from the imputation 
of having at least consented in his heart to their crime. 
Thomas a Becket was buried at Canterbury, and being 
afterwards canonized, his tomb was visited by pilgrims 
as a holy place; among others by Henry himself. 

Soon after this terrible event, the king proceeded to 
Ireland with a formidable army; he had received a 
commission, from Pope Adrian, to subdue this island, 
and the state of the country at that moment was ])ar- 
ticularly favourable to his design. It was divided into 
Sve independent sovereignties ; these were at war with 
each other, and were, besides, harassed by interntil 


144. 


ITENRT II. 


divisions. The English king was preceded by two 
powerful nobles, Eitz-Stephen, and Eichard de Clare 
surnamed Strongbow; these obtained possession of 
several fortresses, and Henry had little to do on his 
arrival but receive the homage of the native chiefs, who 
were for the most part confirmed in their possessions. 

But the external prosperity of Henry was troubled 
by domestic disquiet; his children were armed against 
him by their mother, a very unprincipled woman, and 
these rebellious members of his own family were aided 
by William, the King of Scotland, who made incursions 
into England, but was subdued and taken prisoner. 
Prince Henry, also, the king’s eldest son, was reduced 
to submission, from a state of active rebellion, but in¬ 
stantly after entered into a fearful contest with his 
brother Eichard, in the midst of which he died, over¬ 
whelmed with remorse. The king was heavily afflicted 
by the death of his son, and new troubles awaited him ; 
his younger children, Eichard and Geofiry, took arms 
against him, each contending for a portion of his con¬ 
tinental dominions, and while the unhappy father was 
still mourning over their rebellion, he received intel¬ 
ligence that his youngest and favourite son, John, had 
gone over to his enemies. This last event, joined to 
the grief of those preceding, threw him into a fever, 
of which he died at Chinon, in Anjou, on the 6th of 
July, 1189, in the fifty-seventh year of his age, and 
the thirty-fifth of his reign. 

In this reign, London Bridge was new made of tim¬ 
ber, by Peter of Cole-Church, a priest. 


THE EYIL GENIES OF THE PLA.NTAGENETS. 145 


THE EVIL GENIUS OE THE PL ANT A- 

GENETS. 

In tlie quarrel between the sons of Henry II., Geoffry, 
the youngest, took part with his elder brother against 
Eichard, the second son. Many efforts were made to 
bring about a reconciliation, but Geoffry persisted in 
carrying on the war : among other envoys sent to him 
came a Norman clerk, holding a crucifix in his hand, 
who besought him by the love of Christ to spare the 
blood of his brother Christians, and not imitate the 
crime of Absalom, by opposing his father’s will. 

“What!” said Geoffry, “wouldst thou have me de¬ 
prive myself of mine inheritance ?” “ God forbid! my 
lord,” returned the priest, “I wish nothing to your 
detriment.” 

“ Thou dost not understand me,” rejoined the young 
man, “ I talk not of lands or possessions; but know 
that it is the fate of our family that none of us shall 
love the rest! this is our inheritance^ and not one of us 
will ever relinquish it.” 

And that this fearful belief was really prevalent is but 
too true. The supposition bore, that an evil influence 
was over the race of Plantagenet, and that they were 
doomed, by a series of family feuds, and the frequent 
shedding of each others’ blood, to expiate some mys¬ 
terious crime. The true evil genius of the family 
would, however, have been properly sought in their 
own violent passions, unless it may be supposed to 

li 


146 THE EVIL GEJ?'IUS OF THE PLATITAGENETS. 

have resided in the person of Bertrand de Boice, Lord 
of Hautefort, a man of consummate ability, who had 
gained a complete ascendancy over the minds of both 
Henry and his sons. This influence he used for the 
most malignant purposes; seeking, in the language of 
the day, “ to stir up the blood against the flesh, to sever 
the head from the limbs.” 

The wicked Hautefort beheld the compunction of 
the younger Henry, and the reviving affection of his 
father, with extreme dislike, and by many an evil sug¬ 
gestion, prevailed on the prince to forego his better 
purposes. He was on the eve of once more encounter¬ 
ing his parent in the field, when a malignant fever 
put an end to his days. Henry was deeply affected 
by the news of his death, and resolved to take a full 
vengeance on Bertrand de Boice, whom he justly con¬ 
sidered the real criminal in this new revolt. Attack¬ 
ing him in his castle of Hautefort, he soon compelled 
him to surrender at discretion. The courage and pre¬ 
sence of mind of this bad, yet able, man did not forsake 
him at this crisis; when led before the king, Henry 
thus addressed him :— 

“ Bertrand, Bertrand, thou wert used to say that 
thou never hadst occasion for half thy wit, but know 
that the time is come when the whole would not be 
too much for thee ; for the double of it shall not save 
thy headthese words were accompanied by a smile 
of bitter derision. 

“My liege,” replied the Noble of Aquitaine, un¬ 
moved by the taunt, “it is true that I said so, and T 


THE EYIL GENIUS OE THE PLANTAGENETS. 147 

said but tbe truth.” “ Yet I think thy wit is failing 
thee now,” rejoined the king. 

“Yes,” returned Bertrand in a graver tone, and 
with a manner that seemed greatly agitated—“ yes, it 
failed me on the instant that thy valiant son expired ; 
with him I lost all!” 

At the mention of his son, whose name he was 
wholly unprepared to hear, Henry melted into tears ; 
when he recovered, all his purposes of revenge had 
flown, and he no longer beheld the rebel and seducer 
in the prisoner awaiting his sentence from his lips, 
but the friend of the son for whom he mourned— 
“ You may w’ell have lost your wits for my son,” de¬ 
clared the relenting monarch, “ for he loved you better 
than any man in the world, and I, for love to him 
forgive your oftences.” 









































IIS 


EICHAED I. 


EICHAED I., SUENAMED CCEUE-DE- 

LION. 

1189 TO 1199. 

—♦— 

This monarch, the eldest surviving son of Henry II., 
was in his thirty-second year when he ascended the 
throne. Inured to war from his earliest youth, 
Eichard was brave and daring beyond any man of his 
day; he was liberal, fond of literature as it then ex¬ 
isted, and capable of great generosity, but, fierce and 
vindictive, he made his impetuous will the only law of 
his actions. 

The coronation of this prince was distinguished by 
a fearful tragedy, which will show you how intolerant 
was that day in comparison with our own happier 
times. The Jews had been commanded not to appear 
in the cathedral during the solemnity, but some few 
individuals of that persuasion attempting to gain ad¬ 
mission, a struggle ensued, which ended in a general 
massacre. Nor was this confined to London; once 
aroused, the dreadful spirit of intolerance extended its 
ravages without mercy, and in- Norwich, Lincoln, and 
Stamford, but more especially in York, the Jews were 
murdered by thousands, with their wives, children, 






RIOHAKD I. 


149 


and servants, their whole property being plundered 
and destroyed. 

A contemporary historian, Walter Heiningford, a 
canon of the Priory of Guis borough, who was eye 
witness of the facts, relates that narrative. 

One Benedict, a Jew of York, being in London 
during the massacre, was compelled to receive baptism 
by the fear of death, but recanted immediately after, 
and died of the w^ounds he had received, on the fol¬ 
lowing day. Now Benedict had been accompanied to 
London by one Jocenus, also a Jew; but this latter 
escaped to York, and there related all that had taken 
place. But, instead of exciting pity and compassion 
in his hearers, he thus stirred up many of them to 
follow the evil example; and these men, first setting 
fire to several parts of the city, that the citizens, be< 
ing taken up with extinguishing it, might give them 
no interruption, began their attack by assaulting the 
house of the aforesaid Benedict, wherein were his wife 
and children, with several of their relations, and much 
merchandize—for the house being large, and of some 
strength, all were lodged there,for the greater security 
—this they quickly got possession of, and having mur¬ 
dered every one found therein, they burnt it to the 
ground. Now that barbarous action alarming the 
rest of the Jews, and particularly Jocenus, a man of 
mighty w^ealth, most of them, under his conduct, ad¬ 
dressed themselves to the governor of the castle, and 
prevailed with him to give them shelter both for their 
persons and effects, which he had no sooner done, than 


150 


RICHaIID I. 


the rioters, flying to the house of Jocenus, destroyed 
it as they had done that of his friend Benedict; and 
seizing on all those unhappy wretches who had not 
been so provident as to get them into the castle with 
their fellows, they put them all to death without dis¬ 
tinction either of age or sex—those only being saved 
who consented to be immediately baptized. 



While they continued thus in their stronghold, the 
governor chancing one day to go forth, some crafty 
person among their enemies, pretending great friend¬ 
ship, insinuated to them that his business was to con¬ 
clude a treaty with the rioters about delivering them 
u}), on condition that he was to have the largest share 
of the booty ; and alarmed by this, the unhappy Jews, 


















RICHAKD I. 


151 


when the governor returned to the castle, barred the 
gates against him, and refused him entrance. 

The sheriff of the county chanced to be in York on 
the king’s affairs, with many soldiers, when this hap¬ 
pened ; to him the governor complained of the Jews’ 
treachery, the ringleaders of the disorder joining in 
the outcry, and declaring it would reflect on the 
king’s authority, if the Jews were suffered to continue 
masters of the castle. The sheriff, therefore, com¬ 
manded that the castle should be rescued: that was 
what they wanted. Under protection of his command 
they joined the troops, and though the sheriff, soon 
perceiving that their intention was solely the destruc¬ 
tion of the Jews, at once revoked his order, yet it was 
now too late—the rabble were much too heated to he 
restrained by words; they continued their assaults 
with fury; the siege lasted many days ; and the Jews 
perceiving at length that they should not be able to 
hold out much longer, called a council among them¬ 
selves, to consider what was best to be done in case 
they were driven to extremities. 

When they had assembled, their senior Eabbi, who 
had been sent from distant lands to instruct them in 
the law, by reason of his great learning and experience, 
rose up and said—“ Men of Israel! the God of our 
fathers, to whom none can say. What dost thou ? com¬ 
mands us at this time to die for his law; and behold 
death is even before our eyes, and there is nothing 
left us to consider, but how to undergo it in the most 
reputable and easy manner. If we fall into the hands 


152 


EICIIAED 1. 


of our enemies, which I think there is no avoiding, 
our deaths will not only he cruel but ignominious; 
they will not only torment us, but despitefully use us. 
My advice, therefore, is that we voluntarily surrender 
those lives to our Creator, which he seems to call for, 
and not wait for any other executioners than ourselves. 
The fact is both rational and lawful, nor do we want 
examples from amongst our illustrious ancestors to 
prove it so; they have frequently proceeded in like 
manner upon the same occasion.” Having thus spoken 
the old man sat down and wept. 

The assembly were divided ; some affirming that he 
had spoken wisely, others that it was a hard saying. 

To which the Habbi, standing up a second time, 
replied—“ Seeing, brethren, that we are not all of one 
mind, let those who do not approve of my advice de¬ 
part from this assembly.” They departed; but the 
greater number continued stedfastly with him, and as 
soon as they perceived themselves alone (their despair 
increasing) they first burnt everything belonging to 
them that was consumable by fire ; then, setting fire 
to several places of the castle at once, they took each 
man a sharp knife, and first cut the throats of their 
wives and children, then their own—Jocenus and the 
Babbi remaining last alive, to see that all was per¬ 
formed according to their resolutions ; and when this 
was done, the Babbi, out of respect to Jocenus, who 
was a person of distinction, first slew him, and then 
destroyed himself. 

To increase the horror of the fact, this dismal tra- 


EICHAED I. 


153 


gedy was acted in the night-time; the castle was all 
in flames before the eyes of the assailants; a few 
miserable wretches only remaining on the battlements 
who pretended to no resistance, but, declaring the la¬ 
mentable fate of their brethren as well as their tears 
would permit, ofiered to give up all their treasure, 
and become Christians—but all were massacred to a 
man! 

The king took some steps towards punishing the 
‘‘ murtherers of the Jews,” but the leaders escaped into 
Scotland when his proclamation appeared; some 
authorities declare that no fewer than 1500 Jews pe¬ 
rished in this massacre! 

And this dark national crime was committed on the 
eve of a crusade, undertaken by tlie English king, for 
the recovery of the Holy Land, the sacred scene of 
our Saviour’s sufierings and death, from the hands of 
Turkish infidels! It is said that E-ichard, on the first 
breaking out of the tumult, did indeed make many 
attempts to arrest the slaughter, but with a want of 
success that gives a frightful picture of the enormities 
that fanaticism will lead men to. 

Among the earliest acts of Eichard’s reign was the 
liberation of his mother from an imprisonment in which 
Henry had held her for twelve years previous to his 
death; he also conferred great benefits on his brother 
John, and having amassed enormous sums of money by 
the sale of the royal forests and castles, by that of civil 
and ecclesiastical dignities, and by the release of Scot¬ 
land from its homage to the English crown, he departed 


154 


RIOHAED I. 


for Palestine on tlie llth of December, 1189, first con¬ 
stituting William Longcbamp, Bishop of Ely, and 
Hugh, Bishop of Durham, joint regents in his absence. 

The wars of Eichard in Palestine were a long series 
of victories and triumphs, and the renown he gained 
in them, surpasses that of any other warrior. Eichard 
had been betrothed in his childhood to Alesia, sister 
of Philip of Prance, who was in Palestine with him, 
and who agreeing to annul the contract for his sis¬ 
ter’s marriage, the English monarch took for his queen 
Berengaria, daughter of Sancho, King of Kavarre. 
This lady he married at Cyprus, an island of which he 
had made himself master, and where he caused her to 
be crowned. 

The jealousy Philip felt at the splendid successes of 
Eichard caused him to leave Palestine, and Eichard’s 
army being greatly weakened by this desertion, and by 
sickness, he made a truce with Saladiu, the Turkish 
Sultan, and also withdrew to Europe, where John was 
seeking to possess himself of his brother’s crown, and 
Philip of his Norman Province. 

Hearing that the French were preparing to capture 
him on the seas, Eichard attempted to cross German}^ 
in disguise, but, being taken prisoner by Leopold, Duke 
of Austria, whom he had mortally offended in Pales¬ 
tine, that potentate sold him to the Emperor of Ger¬ 
many, from whom he was not ransomed until more 
than a year after, when he returned to England, after 
an absence of five years, having landed on the 20th of 
March, 1194. 


IIICHAED T. 


155 


He found his kingdom in the wildest disorder, for 
the tyrannical government of the Norman Kings had 
caused many of the Saxon race to become outlaws, 
among whom the most famous was Eobin Hood; a man 



whose acts of violence to the rich were redeemed, in 
some degree, by aid and protection extended to the 
poor. These outlaws, who established themselves in all 
the great forests, combined a sort of championship for 
the cause of the old national independence with the 
practice of deer sliooting and robbery. 

Longchamp having imprisoned his fellow regent, had 
in his turn been deprived of his dignities by Prince 
John. That ungrateful brother, after delaying his 
sovereign’s liberation by the basest intrigues, was pre^ 
vented, by the promptitude of Eichard only, from now 







156 


EICHAED I. 


breaking into open war; the king was, nevertheless, 
induced to pardon him at the entreaty of their mother, 
but he marked his conviction of John’s worthless¬ 
ness by these words:—“ I wish I could as readily 
forget your injuries as you will forget my pardon of 
them.” 

Much commotion was excited by the imposition of 
the taxation to meet the expenses of the war. The 
people were led by William Titz-Osbert, called Long- 
beard, a citizen of London, and the insurrection had 
at one time assumed a somewhat formidable character, 
but the prompt energy of Hubert, Archbishop of Can¬ 
terbury, and then Chief Justiciary of England, suc¬ 
ceeded in restoring order : and Longbeard was 
executed, together with his chief adherents. 

In 1197, the country was afflicted by famine, fol¬ 
lowed, as too frequently happened, by pestilence, 
which more especially affected London. Two years 
after, Eichard himself was dangerously wounded before 
the Castle of Chaluz, while attacking one of his tribu¬ 
tary barons, by a youth named Bertrand de Gurdun, 
whose father and two brothers the king had formerly 
slain. This man declaring his wrongs boldly, was par¬ 
doned by Eichard, but cruelly flayed alive after his death 
by the commander of his German troops. Eichard 
of the Lion Heart died on the 6th of April 1199, in 
the forty-second year of his age and the tenth of his 
reign. 


THE EEIG>" OF JOHN. 


157 


JOHN, SUENAMED LACKLAND. 

1199 TO 121G. 

—- 


We have already remarked that the right of primo¬ 
geniture was not yet a law in England, hence John 
succeeded, to the prejudice of Arthur, who, as the son 
of Geoffry, his elder brother, would have had the 
better claim. 

But that doubts existed as to the rectitude of John’s 
accession is proved by the fact, that his reign was not 
said to have commenced till the 27th of May, whereas, 
if he had succeeded by undoubted right, it would have 
been reckoned from the 6th of April, when Eichard 
died. That last sovereign is, besides, shown to have 
acknowledged Arthur as his heir, (in the event of his 
dying without children,) by a letter to the Pope, and 
by a contract for the young prince’s marriage. Be 
this as it may, all historians agree that Arthur disap¬ 
peared immediately after falling into his uncle’s hands 
at the battle of Mirebei, where Philip of Prance was 
pretending to be in arms for the young prince’s rights. 
John is even declared to have murdered him with his 
own hands, and it is certain that he kept Eleanor, the 
sister of Artliur, in perpetual imprisonment. 



158 


TKE EEIGN OE JOHN. 


A very fearful instance of this monarch’s wickedness 
and vengeance is told of the Braose family. 

Aware of the strong disapprobation his conduct ex¬ 
cited among the nobles, King John had demanded 
that great numbers of their children should be placed 
in his hands, as hostages for the peaceable demeanour 
of the parents. The heir of William de Braose, lord 
of Bramber, in Sussex, was in this manner required 
from his parents by Peter de Mauluc, an especial con¬ 
fidant of John, and one who was said to have assisted 
him in the murder of his nephew Arthur. But the 
mother of the boy, a Norman lady of the house of St. 
Yalery, was aware of the crime imputed to this Mau¬ 
luc, and declared that she would not resign her child 
to a sovereign who had murdered his nephew, nor to 
one who had taken part in the crime. Her words 
were overheard and maliciously reported to the king 
by De Mauluc; and the Lady de Braose, becoming 
sensible of the danger into which her imprudent reply 
had thrown her family, made all possible efforts to pro¬ 
pitiate the queen in her favour, hoping that the influ¬ 
ence of Isabella might procure a pardon for her offence. 

Among other offerings, the lady of Bramber sent 
the queen a present of four hundred cows and one 
beautiful bull, all milk-white, the ears only excepted, 
which were red. But the deadly anger of John was 
not to be thus averted ; he pursued the unfortunate 
family into Ireland, whither they had retired for safety 
—seized them at Meath, and had all brought prisoners 
to his Castle of Windsor. 


THE EEIGN OF JOHN. 


159 


Here the wretched sufferers were shut up in a 
strong room;—father, mother, and five innocent chil¬ 
dren ; where, shocking to relate, the whole were de¬ 
liberately starved to death : the jailor occasionally visit¬ 
ing them and holding bread to their view, and after 
taunting them in this cruel way leaving them to all 
the horrors of starvation. An atrocity, compared with 
■^hich the dark stain of Arthur’s murder fades to the 
nue of a venial crime. 

The reign of John was a continued series of troubles 
and disgraces ; he lost the whole of his continental 
dominions, and although he confirmed the English 
authority over Wales and Ireland, and compelled the 
Scottish king to pay him tribute, yet his continual 
disputes with his nobles kept the country in a ceaseless 
turmoil; and his quarrels with the Clergy and the Pope, 
subjected his kingdom to all the miseries of an Interdict. 

My young friends will perhaps require to be told, 
that while a kingdom was under an interdict, all the 
churches were closed, public worship ceased, the 
clergy suspended all their functions, no baptism could 
be solemnized, the sick lay unconfessed, the dying un¬ 
absolved (a source of dreadful sorrow in Catholic coun¬ 
tries, as you know ours was then), and the dead re¬ 
mained unburied. This terrible sentence was followed 
by the excommunication of the king, which freed all 
his subjects from their allegiance, and Philip of France 
was commissioned by the Pope—then all-powerful—to 
take possession of his kingdom. 

From these evils John delivered himself by resign- 


160 


THE REIGN OE JOHN. 


ing his crown into the hands of Pandolfo, the Konian 
Legate—by declaring himself a vassal of Eome, and 
agreeing to pay a tribute of 700 marks a year for 
England, and of 300 marks for Ireland. All this so 
disgusted his barons, that they refused the authority of 
so despicable a prince, and took up arms against him. 



Alarmed by these demonstrations, the king con¬ 
sented to meet his nobles in a field called Eunnymede, 
between Staines and Windsor, and there signed the 
famous Charter of English liberty, called Magna 
Charta —a foundation on which the present glorious 
Constitution of our country has been raised. 

But there was no honesty in the character of John, 
he had no sooner formed this compact than he took 

































TUE EEIGN OE JOHN. 


161 


measures to break it. Calling on the pope for aid 
against his barons, he caused many of them to he ex¬ 
communicated, and hired an army of foreigners, who 
carried disorder throughout the kingdom. 

Driven to extremity, the barons now invited Louis, 
eldest son of the French king, to take possession of 
the throne, and that prince landed in the Isle of 
Thanet, took the city of Eochester, and proceeded to 
London, where he was received with open arms. But 
Louis was soon found to be so repulsive and imperious, 
that many of those who had most eagerly invited him, 
now turned with repentance to their former sovereign, 
whose mercenaries were still ravaging the country. 

Meanwhile, in the disappointment produced by the 
protraction of the war, jealousy of their foreign allies 
w as beginning to spread among the insurgents, and it 
is very doubtful what the issue of the struggle might 
have been if the life of John had been prolonged. But 
on the 14th of October, 1266, as he was attempting to 
ford the Wash at low water, from Cross-keys to the 
Foss dyke, and had already got across himself with the 
greater part of his army, the return of the tide sud¬ 
denly swept away the carriages and horses which con¬ 
veyed all his baggage and treasures ; on which, in an 
agony of vexation, he proceeded to the Cistercian Con¬ 
vent of Swineshead, and was that same night seized 
with a violent fever, the result, probably, of irritation 
and fatigue, which one account attributes to imprudent 
indulgence of fruit and new cider, and another to 
poison administered by the monks. Although very ill 


162 


tee EEIGN OE JOHN-. 


he was conveyed in a litter to tlie Castle at Sleaford, 
thence to the Castle of Newark, where he died on the 
18th of October, 1216. 



John was married three times, and by his third wife, 
Isabella of Angouleme, he had two sons (Henry, who 
succeeded him, and Richard) and three daughters. He 
founded the Abbey of Beaulieu, in Hampshire. The 
stone bridge over the Thames was finished in his time 
by the merchants of London, and the Church of St. 
Mary Overies, in Southwark, was built. He died at 
the age of fifty-one, and in the eighteenth year of 
his reign. 












HENET TIT. 


1G3 


HENEY III., SUENAMED OF 
WmCHESTEE. 

12X6 TO 1272. 

Many English barons remained attached to Louis on 
the death of John, but others declared for his infant 
son, Henry, then only nine years of age ; and William, 
Earl of Pembroke, availed himself with so much skill 
and prudence of whatever advantages he could gather 
for his young sovereign, that Louis was defeated both 
by land and sea, and compelled to abandon all preten¬ 
sions to the English crown. 

Sole regent of the kingdom, and guardian of the 
king, Pembroke conducted the affairs of the country 
with great wisdom, and caused the Charter of Liberty 
to be confirmed—he died unhappily in the twelfth 
year of the king’s age, and was succeeded by Peter de 
Poche, Bishop of Winchester, and Hubert de Burgh, 
Chief Justiciary, both very ambitious men, by whom 
the education of the young king was continued with¬ 
out any of that wise moderation which so nobly distin¬ 
guished the good Earl of Pembroke. 

De Burgh was not long continued in office, and the 
Bishop of Winchester so displeased the nobles by the 



164 


HEITET TIT. 


introduction of numerous foreigners, that lie also was 
dismissed. 

Among the unfortunate acts of Henry’s far from 
brilliant reign, was his marriage with Eleanor of Pro¬ 
vence, a woman of great beauty, but who brought him 
as dowry no increase of friends or allies, but only a 
long train of beggarly relations, who caused him to fall 
into perpetual disagreements with his barons. 



Henry was both abused and satirized for his pacific 
dispositions, by the troubadours of his day; but the 
more impartial historians describe him as a well-mean¬ 
ing, though very weak prince. He was never fortunate 
in such warlike expeditions as he attempted, and his 























HENRY III. 


165 


prodigality in expense led to many very unpopular im¬ 
posts. To the Jews he was particularly cruel and un¬ 
just, but this, the state of feeling in that day readily 
forgave. A less excusable fault, in the eyes of his 
subjects, was the presentation of numberless Italians 
to the most valuable Church preferments, the appro¬ 
priation of the richest benefices to the Eoman See, and 
the extortion of large gifts from his nobles, whom he 
pretended to honour by friendly visits, but whom in 
effect he was pillaging. 

These things were borne for many years, but at 
length Simon de Montfort, Earl of Leicester, who had 
married the king’s sister Eleanor, placed himself at the 
head of the discontented barons, and, though at first, 
perhaps, influenced by motives of patriotism, yet con¬ 
trived to monopolize the whole power of the govern¬ 
ment, and compelled the king’s adherents to fly the 
country. 

Henry’s war with his barons continued, to the dis¬ 
turbance of his whole reign, but its details cannot here 
find a place. One of the most striking events of this 
struggle is the first admission of the Commons into 
the British Parliament, which, up to this time, had 
been composed of the clergy and nobles only. The 
merit of this first establishment of the principle of 
popular representation is due to De Montfort, as the 
writs for his Parliament, directing the return of Knights 
of the Shires and representatives of cities and boroughs, 
are the earliest extant. 

At a battle fought near Lewes, the king, with his 


166 


HENRY III. 


son Prince Edward, and his brother Eichard, titular 
king of the Eomans, were taken prisoners, and held in 
durance by Leicester, until, dissensions arising in his 
party, the Earl of Grloucester joined Prince Edward, 
who had effected his escape, and attacking Leicester 
at Evesham, in Worcestershire, there defeated and 
slew him. Henry himself, who had been placed in the 
front of the battle by Leicester, was wounded and on 
the point of being killed, when he was saved by his 
son Edward. 

The death of De Montfort ended the w^ar; but 
Henry punished those who had engaged in it with im¬ 
prudent severity, and thus rekindled the flames of 
discord. Prince Edward had gone to Palestine, wEere 
he was distinguishing himself, as well by his high cha¬ 
racter as by his bravery, when intelligence of the new 
disorders arising and that the king’s health was greatly 
impaired, he returned, but before he could reach 
England his father had expired, at the age of sixty- 
four, and in the flfty-sixth year of his reign. 














THE MONKS OF ST. BAETHOLOMEW. 167 


THE MONKS OE ST. BAETHOLOMEW. 

Few stories wFetlier of amusement or instruction, are 
obtainable from this disturbed reign; and in this 
dearth of subjects, my young friends must be fain to 
content themselves with a few anecdotes, all of which 
go to exemplify disorders among the people as the in¬ 
evitable result of incapacity in their rulers. 

Matthew of Paris declares that “ the king thought 
he could never do enough to testify his love for the 
queen and her family,” whose rapacity, be it said in 
passing, was a very powerful cause of many troubles 
in his kingdom. Among other proofs of his devotion 
to Eleanor, the king seized the occasion, when St. Ed¬ 
mund, Archbishop of Canterbury, died, to promote her 
uncle, Boniface, to the primacy of England. 

This Boniface thought proper to meddle with the 
uftairs of the Bishop of London, by proceeding in 
visitation to his Priory of St. Bartholomew; the 
monks, though they liked not his coming, yet received 
him with respect, and came out in solemn procession 
to meet him, but the archbishop said he came for the 
purposes of ecclesiastical visitation, and not to receive 
honours merely. To this the monks replied, that, 
having a learned bishop of their own, they ought not 
to be visited by any other,—an answer that so enraged 
Boniface as to make him forgetful of all decency, and 
he smote the sub-prior on the face, exclaiming, “ In- 


168 THE MONK.S OE ST. BAETHOLOMEW. 

deed! indeed! doth it become ye English traitors 
thus to withstand me ?” With violent oaths he then 
tore the rich cope of the sub-prior to pieces, trampled 
it under his feet, and thrust the late wearer against a 
pillar of the chancel, with such violence that he had 
well nigh slain him. The monks, seeing their prior 
thus maltreated, pushed the archbishop back, and in 
so doing discovered that he was cased in armour, and 
prepared for battle. The archbishop’s attendants 
—who were Proven 9 als to a man—then fell on the 
monks, whom they beat, buffeted, and trampled under 
foot; the monks, in their rent and miry garments, 
ran to show their wounds, and complain of their 
wrongs to their bishop, who bade them go and tell 
the king thereof. The only four who were capable of 
getting as far as Westminster, proceeded to the palace 
in a doleful plight, but the king would neither see 
them nor receive their complaint. 

The populace of London, taking part with the 
monks, were disposed to tear the archbishop to pieces, 
and pursued him to Lambetb, crying, “ Where is this 
ruffian, this cruel smiter ? lie is no winner of souls, 
but an exactor of money, a stranger born, unlearned, 
and unlawfully elected!” But the archbishop took 
refuge with the king in the palace, where he made his 
story good through the influence of the queen, his 
niece ; and the monks of Bartholomew got no redress. 

One day. King Henry, after having been well brow¬ 
beaten by his parliament, was proceeding in no very 
good humour by water to the Tower, then a royal re- 


THE MOJ^KS OF ST. EAETHOLOMEW. 


sidence, when he was overtaken by a violent thunder 
storm, and in great alarm commanded his boatmen to 
make for the next stairs ; but he had forgotten, in his 
fright, that these belonged to Durham House, then 
the abode of the Earl of Leicester, who came out to re¬ 
ceive him, saying at the same time—“ Be not alarmed, 
my lord, for the storm is spent.” 

“ I am beyond measure afraid of thunder and light¬ 
ning, but, by the head of God, I fear thee more than 
all the thunder in the world,” was the dignified reply 
of Henry ; to which Leicester quietly rejoined,—“My 
lord, you are to blame to fear your only true and firm 
friend, whose sole wish is to preserve England from 
ruin, and yourself from the destruction evil councillors 
are preparing for you.” 

On another occasion the king was conversing in 
angry mood with Boger Bigod, Earl of Norfolk and 
Suffolk, one of the most powerful, but also one of the 
most turbulent, of his barons—“ What, Sir Earl! are 
you so bold with me, whose vassal peer you are ?” de¬ 
manded the king; “ could I not issue my royal war¬ 
rant for threshing out all your corn ?” 

“Ay!” retorted the Earl, “but could I not send 
you the heads of the threshers in return!” 


170 


EDWAliD I. 


EDWAED I. 

1272 TO 1307. 

■ » — 

Edwaed was quite as much distinguished by his legis¬ 
lative wisdom as by his military skill; he enacted 
many excellent laws, punished all such civil officers as 
were found to have abused their trust, through the 
disturbed reign of his father, and compelled his own 
magistrates to administer justice with firmness and 
impartiality. He confirmed the authority and ex¬ 
tended the privileges of the commons, perceiving that 
he should thus counterbalance the undue influence 
possessed by the barons. 

But the love of conquest was ever his ruling pas¬ 
sion ; he attacked the Welsh king, Lewellyn of Wales, 
and having compelled him to submission, received his 
brother David into his especial favour, giving him a 
lady of rank in marriage, and appointing him seneschal 
of all his castles in Wales ; yet this very David it was 
who incited Lewellyn again to try the fortune of arms 
against the English king. Edward at once entered 
Wales with an overpowering army, and Lewellyn fell in 
battle; this triumph was tarnished by great cruelty 
towards David, who being taken in arms, was drawn 



EDWAED I. 


171 


to the gallows on a hurdle, hanged with every circum¬ 
stance of ignominy, and his head being struck from 
his body, was placed on the Tower of London, together 
with that of his brother Lewellyn. Erom this period 
it is, that Wales has been a principality of England, 
and Edward having a son born at Caernarvon, named 
the infant Prince of Wales,” a title still borne by 
the eldest son of the English crown. 

Having declared to the chieftains that he proposed 
giving them a Prince who could speak no word of 
English, these warriors naturally understood him to 
mean that one of their own native nobles would rule 
over them; but when they came to be presented to 
this prince “who could speak no English,” they found 
an infant of a few days old only. 

In 1286, the sudden death of Alexander III., of 
Scotland, laid open to Edward the road to that king¬ 
dom also ; competitors, to the number of thirteen, laid 
claim to the crown, but the only rightful claimants 
seem to have been John Baliol and Eobert Bruce, 
whose titles were nearly equal. Edward being chosen 
umpire, adjudged the crown to Baliol, but reserving 
to himself a feudal sovereignty over Scotland, to which 
the Scots submitted, though not without extreme in¬ 
dignation and reluctance. 

It appears Edward respected the Scottish rights, 
until, in a war with Prance, the Scots not only re¬ 
fused the help demanded from them but allying them¬ 
selves to the French, made war upon Eugland. Then 
Edward displayed a determination to keep no measures 


172 


EDWAliD I. 


with Scotland. Suspending his continental operations, 
he brought his whole force against it, and Baliol, di¬ 
vested of his royal robes, and bearing a white wand in 
his hand, in token of submission, was compelled to 
resign his people and kingdom to Edward, as liege 
lord of the whole. The Scottish barons, also, among 
whom was Bruce, their future king, again swore fealty 
to the English sovereign, who, nevertheless, sent many 
of them prisoners to England, and committed Baliol 
himself to the Tower. 

John de Warrenne, Earl of Surrey, was made go¬ 
vernor of Scotland, and Hugh de Cressingham, trea¬ 
surer. A military force was also left, to retain the 
country in peace, but not thus were the hardy sons of 
the north to be subdued; while Edward was busily 
contending for the restoration of his Erench domi¬ 
nions, which had been seized by Philip of France, a 
revolution broke out in Scotland, which was headed 
by Sir William Wallace, a chieftain, whose virtues 
and heroic deeds make a most conspicuous figure in 
his country’s annals, and whose name well deserves 
to he inrolled among the noblest patriots and martyrs. 
By this general the Earl of Surrey was defeated with 
great loss, in the battle of Stirling, and following up 
his success, Wallace drove the English troops out of 
Scotland, penetrated into the border counties, took 
possession of several English fortresses, and returned 
laden with spoil. 

Informed of these things, Edward lost no time in 
repairing to the defence of his kingdom; and meeting 


EDWAED I. 


173 


the Scottish troops at Falkirk, a tremendous battle 
ensued, in which, after a brave struggle on both sides, 
the English were completely victorious. But again 
were the laurels of Edward stained by disgraceful 
cruelty; Wallace, betrayed by a villain who affected 
to be his friend, fell into the hands of the English, and 
was publicly executed in London as a traitor, although 
he had never sworn allegiance to Edward, and was not 
a subject of the English crown. 

It cannot be doubted that the incorporation of Scot¬ 
land with England had long been Edward’s darling 
project; but he was not destined to see it realized 
Robert Bruce, the legitimate heir to the Scottish 
throne, succeeded Wallace as Edward’s opponent. 
Of the many struggles this occasioned, my young 
friends will read in more voluminous works; here we 
can but allude to events generally, and these continued 
of the most stormy kind, until Edward, worn out with 
age and disease, yet eager to the last for the conquest 
of Scotland, was arrested by mortal illness at Carlisle, 
and died at Burgh, July the 7th, 1307, in the sixty- 
third year of his age, and the thirty-fifth of his reign. 

It may be feared that the charge of cruelty so often 
brought against this monarch was but too well de¬ 
served ; among other proofs of this are the severities 
practised against the Jews in this reign: great num¬ 
bers of them were executed in 1279, on a charge of 
having clipped the coin. In 1289, Edward expelled 
them from his Grascon territories, and two years after 
from England; their treasures he bestowed on his 


174 


EDWAED I. 


queen, and it is even said that the sailors of the Cinque 
Ports, whence these unhappy men were expatriated, 
robbed them of what goods remained to them and 
threw many of the wretched owners into the sea. 

The Queen Eleanor died in 1291, at Q-rantham, and 
her body, being conveyed by easy stages to London 
for interment, at the different places where the pro¬ 
cession rested a stone cross was erected ; the engrav¬ 
ing below represents that at "Waltham Gross. 

Much violence of all sorts marks this reign ; but we 
find in Walsingham and others, certain relations that 
place Edward’s character in the more amiable light, 
that, spite of his cruelties, many authors ascribe to it. 









































J.CUOPffc.Sj. 

“ Prince Edward armed for the crusade.” 

Page 175. 




































THE prince’s forbearance. 


175 


THE PEINCE’S EOEBEAEANCE. 

Before Edward had yet attained to the crown, and 
during the lifetime of his father, he proceeded to the 
Holy Land; not more in compliance with the reli¬ 
gious custom of the day, than to gratify the love of 
military enterprise, that forms so material a part of his 
character. It was during this Syrian campaign that 
the prince, hawking one day by a river, beheld one of 
his barons permitting a falcon, who had just seized a 
wild duck among the willows, to clutch his prey, with¬ 
out paying any attention to the movements of the 
bird ; an omission that Edward’s ardour in field sports 
made him look upon as little less than a crime. The 
prince upbraided the baron for his neglect; and the 
noble, instead of receiving the reproof, that by the 
usages of falconry he had amply merited, in a proper 
spirit, returned an insolent reply, declaring tauntingly 
that “ it was well for Edward the river fiowed between 
them.” 

Enraged by this ofiensive insinuation, the prince, 
albeit ignorant of what depth the river might have, 
plunged in without hesitation, and having gained the 
opposite shore, though not without great difficulty, 
and at the imminent hazard of his life, he pursued the 
recreant baron, who had taken to his heels inconti¬ 
nently, with sword drawn, and a fixed determination 
to strike off his head; the culprit, now seeing escape 
hopeless, sprang from his horse, and approaching the 


176 


THE prince’s forbearance. 


prince witli all humility, stood bare-headed, awaiting 
the punishment that it might please his lord to inflict; 
hut Edward, disarmed by this submission, extended 
forgiveness to the offender, whom he commanded to 
remount, and, returning to the camp in his company, 
showed no further signs of resentment. 

The story of his attempted assassination by the 
‘‘Old Man of the Mountains” is sufficiently known; 
but an admirable writer of the present day has success¬ 
fully shown that the popular tradition of his wife Elea¬ 
nor extracting the poison with her lips, is incorrect, 
although it appears certain that her incessant atten¬ 
tions were the means of his restoration to health, after 
his life had been despaired of. Walter Hemingford, 
a contemporary, whose chronicle is of high authority, 
relates the matter on this wise;—the wound had shown 
symptoms so unfavourable, that the prince’s attendants 
began to despair, and were anxiously consulting to¬ 
gether, when the sufferer asked, “Why whisper ye 
among yourselves ? what see ye in me ? tell the truth 
and fear not.” It was then made known to him that 
the “ Master of the Temple” had declared for an opera¬ 
tion, which would be excessively painful. “ I commit 
myself to you,” replied the prince, addressing his sur¬ 
geon, “ if suflering may restore my health, work your 
will, and spare not.” 

But his wife could not endure the pain about to be 
inflicted on him, and broke forth into cries of anguish, 
when Edward bade his brother Edmund and his favour¬ 
ite knight, John de Yesci, bear the princess to her 


THE PEINCe’s FOEBEAEANCE. 


177 


chamber, which they did—she screaming and strug¬ 
gling, until her brother-in-law remonstrated with her to 
the effect, that ‘‘ it were better she should scream and 
cry than all Eugland lament and mourn!” 

On leaving Syria, the prince and princess found 
grievous tidings awaiting them in Sicily; first came 
news of the death of Prince John, their eldest child, a 
fair and promising boy; this was followed by intelli¬ 
gence that Prince Henry, their second son, was also 
dead ; and a third messenger related the death of King 
Henry, and that Edward was himself King of England. 
Now Edward had borne the loss of his sons with a 
firmness and resignation that astonished all who beheld 
him ; but when told of his father’s death, he gave such 
violent tokens of grief, that his uncle, Charles of 
Anjou, then King of Sicily, who was beside him when 
the intelligence arrived, could not refrain from asking, 
how it happened that he bore the loss of his two sweet 
and promising children with such exemplary firmness, 
^ yet seemed heart broken at the death of an aged man ? 
Edward then made the following reply, which is equally 
remarkable and creditable to his feelings:— 

‘‘ The loss of my children I may hope to see made 
up to me by the same God who gave them; but when 
a man has lost a good father, it is not in the course of 
nature for God to send him another.” 




V 


178 


EDWAED II. 


EDWAED II., SUEISTAMED OE 
CAEENAEYOJSr. 

1307 TO 1327. 

— ♦ - 

This prince acceded to the crown with great advan- 
tages, yet his reign was so unfortunate that he is con¬ 
stantly cited as a warning to English monarchs. Even 
before the funeral of his father, the injudicious Edward 
imprisoned his principal minister, a prelate of high 
worth, and for no other crime than that he had offered 
friendly admonitions on the riotous conduct of the 
youthful prince, and of his favourite page, Piers Gave- 
ston, whom Edw'ard 1., had banished, and whom, being 
on his death-bed, he had exhorted his son never to 
recall. 

Eegardless of this advice, the youthful king had 
scarcely well seated himself on his throne, before 
Gaveston was again in England, was created Earl of 
Cornwall, received the king’s niece in marriage, and 
when Edward left the country to solemnize his nuptials 
with Isabella of France, it was Gaveston whom he ap¬ 
pointed regent in his absence! 

That Edward should be steady in attachment to the 
companion of his childhood would not have been to his 



EDWARD II. 


179 


discredit, but it seems that tbis young man was wholly 
unworthy of his favour; insolent and rapacious, he 
sent into Gascony large sums, abstracted by the weak¬ 
ness of the king from the royal treasure. 

These excesses ended, after many struggles, in the 
death of the favourite, who was seized and executed by 
the enraged nobles. 

An expedition undertaken against Scotland was a 
total failure, the English army being entirely defeated 
at Bannockburn; and though Edward fought with 
great bravery, he was compelled to an ignominious 
flight. This misfortune was presently followed by 
others: the Earl of Lancaster, one of the principal 
actors in the death of Gaveston, now heading the dis¬ 
affected barons, took a decided part against his sove¬ 
reign, who had unhappily found a new favourite in 
Hugh Le Hespenser, son of a highly respected English 
gentleman, and once in Gaveston’s service. This 
youth, indulged like his predecessor, and untaught by 
his fate, again embroiled the king with his barons: 
heavy troubles ensued, but at this time the arms of 
Edward triumphed, and the king, though usually mild 
and forgiving, was so irritated by the long contest, that 
he caused Lancaster to be executed immediately, be¬ 
sides nineteen other persons of distinction, and many 
more of inferior rank. 

The elder Hespenser, now Earl of Winchester, and 
his son, made Earl of Gloucester, were daily becoming 
more and more offensive to the nobles, whose property 
they confiscated on the most frivolous pretences. 17ot 


180 


EDWAKD II. 


content with this, they even ventured to lessen the 
state and luxuries of the queen, whereupon Isabella, a 
very worthless woman, became instantly attached to 
the party of the revolted barons. 

Pretending to visit her brother, the French king, in 
the interest of Edward, she took her son with her to 

t 

Paris, where he did homage for his father’s posses¬ 
sions in France, and where the queen contracted him 
in marriage, without her husband’s consent, to Philip¬ 
pa, daughter of the Duke of Hainault. Following up 
her evil projects, she next levied an army, of which she 
made her favourite, Eoger Mortimer, commander, and 
descended on the English shores, where her known 
hatred to the Despensers caused many to flock to her 
standard. 

The king made a feeble attempt to maintain his 
ground, but it was ineffectual; he was compelled to 
retire into Wales. The elder Despenser, falling into 
the queen’s hands at Bristol, was cruelly tortured and 
put to death, as was his son not long after. 

The king, being taken prisoner, was treated for 
some time in a manner becoming his rank, but was 
afterwards compelled to resign his crown to his son, 
who was instantly saluted Edward III. First care¬ 
fully attended at Kenilworth, the deposed king was 
removed successively to Corfe Castle, to Bristol, and 
finally to Berkeley Castle, at which last place he was 
wickedly murdered. 

It w^as at this period that the Society of Knights 
Templars, was abolished. To the credit of Edward be 


EDWAUD II. 


181 


it recorded that he long maintained the innocence of 
that cruelly oppressed Order, nor permitted them to 
he disturbed until fairly overwhelmed by the impor¬ 
tunities of Philip le Bel, the King of France, and the 
Pope. 

Whatever were the virtues or demerits of the Tem¬ 
plars they fell a prey at last to the cruelty and rapa¬ 
city of Philip: Edward it appears made great efforts 
on their behalf with the pope, bore testimony to the 
respect and • veneration secured for them by their 
morals and character in his own country, and even 
addressed letters to several of the European sove¬ 
reigns, beseeching them not to give ear to the inju¬ 
rious aspersions which had been cast on the characters 
of this faithful and valiant soldiery. 

And that this was no weak notion of our unfortu¬ 
nate Edward, is apparent from the fact, that the Arch¬ 
bishop of York w^as so thoroughly convinced of the 
injustice practised against the unhappy Templars, as 
to have supported many of them at his own expense. 

In the year 1315 there was a dearth, which con¬ 
tinued for three years, and a severe pestilence at the 
same time. 

















182 


EDWARD III. 


EDWARD III. 

1327 TO 1377. 

— 

Succeeding his father at the early age of fourteen, 
Edward III., was in no way chargeable with his parent’s 
murder; the principal blame of that dark crime fall¬ 
ing on the Queen Isabella, and her associate Mortimer, 
with whom the direction of public affairs remained for 
three years after Edward II.’s deposition. 

The first remarkable event of Edward III.’s reign 
was an attempt on Scotland, which was conducted 
throughout with a want of energy that makes one 
doubt the possibility of its sleepy details being the 
acts of Englishmen, and which ended, as its whole 
progress foretells, in a manner most advantageous to 
Scotland, over which kingdom the young Edward was 
made to resign all superiority, on condition of receiving 
30,000 marks ! 

The marriage of Edward with Philippa of Hainault, 
was concluded in his sixteenth year, and was produc¬ 
tive of much domestic happiness to the king, and sa¬ 
tisfaction to the nation. Soon after this event, the 
conduct of Mortimer and the queen mother exciting 
much discontent, and the king especially resenting the 
execution, by their intrigues, of his uncle, the Earl of 



EDWAED III. 


183 


Kent, it was resolved that both should be made to 
suffer for their offences. Mortimer was tried for high 
treason, and executed at Tyburn. Isabella, perhaps 
the more guilty of the two, was despoiled of all her 
treasures, and imprisoned in the Castle of Eising to 
the end of her life. 

Several important changes were now made in the 
Constitution and Laws; additional privileges were 
granted to the Commons, and now it was that this 
body was separated in its deliberations from the Lords, 
with whom it had previously formed but one great 
council. The statute prohibiting confiscation, im¬ 
prisonment, or execution without legal trial, was en¬ 
acted in this reign: and so many wise regulations were 
enforced, that Edward III. may be said to have re¬ 
sembled Edward I., in legislative wisdom. 

In the year 1332, the internal dissensions of Scot¬ 
land gave Edward an opportunity of again attacking 
it. Affecting to espouse the interests of Edward 
Baliol, he entered Scotland with a large army, defeated 
the Scots at Halidon Hill, and restored Edward 
Baliol to the throne, but on the degrading condition 
that he should do homage for his dominions to the 
English king, and that seven border counties, with all 
their towns and fortresses, should be ceded to England 
for ever. 

Eeturned from his Scottish wars, Edward next en¬ 
gaged in a struggle for the crown of France with Philip 
de Valois, nephew of Philip the Fair. 

Edward soon avowed his designs upon France; and 


184 


EDWARD III. 


the people readily entered into the enthusiasm of their 
monarch. Large supplies were granted by parliament, 
a treaty was concluded with the Emperor of Germany, 
by which Edward obtained the right of commanding 
such Princes, Eeudatories of the German Empire, as 
he could engage to join him. And thus sanctioned, 
he entered into various alliances, and assumed the title 
of King of France, quartered his arms with the French 
lilies, and published manifestoes, asserting his rights, 
which he caused to be affixed on the church doors in 
many parts of France. 

The years 1340-41 and 1343 were passed in con¬ 
tinual warfare, both naval and military. But we pass 
over all others to the great battle of Crecy, in which 
the young Edward, best known as the Black Prince, 
though not so called by writers of his day, performed 
a distinguished part, although then not more than 
sixteen years old. In this engagement the French 
troops were greatly superior in numbers to the Eng¬ 
lish ; yet, partly by the efficacy of the cross-bow men, 
but principally by the bravery of the prince, a total 
victory was gained by the English. The King of 
France, wounded and unhorsed, escaped with difficulty; 
the King of Bohemia, an old blind man, with eleven 
princes, eighty noblemen, twelve thousand knights, and 
thirty-six thousand men of lower rank, were left dead 
on the field, and the power of Philip was, for a time, 
completely paralyzed. 

When the struggle was over, our king, who had re¬ 
fused aid to his son in a moment of great danger, de- 


EDWARD III. 


185 


daring that “ the hoy should win his spurs and have 
the honour of the day/’ is reported to have met the 
Prince with high commendations and embraces, all 
which the noble boy received with a modesty that gave 
the fairest hopes for his future character. 

The king now marched to Calais, and sitting down 
before that town, resolved to starve it into surrender. 
John de Vienne, the governor, perceiving this to be 
his project, sent 1700 persons out of the town, and 
these Edward not only permitted to pass safely through 
his camp, but giving to each a hearty meal, he added 
thereunto a couple of sterlings—about twopence for 
every soul. 

While this siege occupied Edward, Philip of Prance 
incited David, King of Scotland, to invade England 
with a large force. The Scotch were met at Neville’s 
Cross, near New^castle, by a body of English ; the 
Queen Philippa being in the field, and dividing the 
troops into four divisions, three of which were com¬ 
manded by Prelates—for this the manners of the day 
permitted, namely, Durham, York, and Lincoln. Hav¬ 
ing done so much, and intreated all to perform their 
duty zealously, the queen retired ; and a battle ensued, 
wLich lasted three hours, and closed wdth the total de¬ 
feat of the Scots, and the capture of David, who was 
forthwith conducted to London. 

The King of Prance had meanwhile collected a large 
force for the relief of Calais, but found it impossible 
to penetrate the English lines, and the suffering in¬ 
habitants seeing their king retire, were compelled to 


186 


EDWAED III. 


think of surrender; the governor demanded a parley, 
but Edward refused to grant the lives of the people 
except on the hard condition that six of the principal 
citizens should bring him the keys of the city, with 
ropes round their necks, and be sacrificed for the rest 
of the townsmen. This, Eustace St. Pierre, one of 
the richest men of the town, magnanimously offered 
to do, and was joined b} five others of rank and spirit 
equally noble. Exasperated by the losses sustained 
in the siege, Edward, forgetting his usual generosity, 
gave orders for the decapitation of this noble band of 
self-devoted patriots; in vain did the excellent Sir 
Walter de Manny intreat him not to tarnish his repu¬ 
tation by so fearful an act of cruelty: it was only at 
the prayer of the queen, who had joined him after her 
Scottish victory, that Edward consented to the release 
of the prisoners. Three years afterwards, Philip at¬ 
tempted to regain Calais by treachery; hearing this, 
Edward himself went privately into the town with his 
son: they sallied out on the approaching Erench, and 
though the struggle was so arduous that the king was 
twice struck to the ground, the Erench were at length 
driven back. 

The Erench wars still continued; Philip de Yalois 
died, and was succeeded by his son John, in whose 
reign the Prince of Wales, frequently called the Black 
Prince, led an army into the Erench territories, and 
after many exploits, which unhappily bear impress of 
he barbarism of the age, fought the famous battle of 
Poictiers, on tbe 19th of September, 1356. The 


EDWARD Til. 


187 


French king had an army more than six times as 
numerous as that of the prince, and the latter would 
willingly have avoided an engagement; but John re¬ 
quired the unconditional surrender of the whole English 
army as prisoners of war. These terms the prince, of 
course, disdained. “May Grod then assist us!” he 
exclaimed, “ we must now consider how to fight them 
most to our advantage.” And God did assist them, 
;ind they did fight to such advantage, that the myriad a 



of France were once more completely routed. The 
French king and his younger son, though both fight- 




































188 


EDWARD III. 


ing with extreme bravery, were taken prisoners, with 
a large number of the French nobles. 

The young Edward’s gentleness in victory was fully 
equal to his fierceness in battle; he conducted his 
prisoners to London with the most courteous atten¬ 
tions, and presented them respectfully to his father, 
who received them with honour and respect. 

Many battles were afterwards fought, the Dauphin 
Charles being Eege'nt of France in his father’s ab¬ 
sence, but Edward found the permanent conquest of 
France impossible; he therefore accepted the media¬ 
tion of the Pope’s Legate, and the peace of Bretigny 
was agreed upon. By this treaty, Edw^ard renounced 
all claim to the crown of France; but Gascony, 
Guienne, Ponthieu, Calais, and other places were se¬ 
cured to him. John’s ransom was fixed at three mil¬ 
lions of gold crowns, and he was released; but the 
sum not being paid, John returned to England, de¬ 
claring that “ though honour and good faith were to 
be banished from all the world beside, they ought to 
be found in the breasts of kings.’ ’ He died in England 
some years after. 

The health of the Prince of Wales, wFich had been 
long declining, was now utterly ruined. He returned 
to England in the hope of recovery, but died, to the 
unspeakable grief of his father and the whole nation, 
on Trinity Sunday, 1376. 

The king declined rapidly, after the death of his son, 
and he died on the 21st of June, 1377, in the sixty- 
fifth year of his age, and the fifty-first of his reign. 


A STAR OF CHIVALRY. 


189 


The great protestant reformer, Wyklilfe, flourished 
in this reign; but the person of whom my next story 
treats shall be Sir Walter de Manny, who had more 
of the virtues, and fewer of the barbarisms of his age, 
than any other person of the period. 


A STAE OF CHIYALEY. 

Sir Walter de Manny was the son of a knight of 
Hainault; but though not an Englishman by birth, 
yet, as he made this country the land of his adoption 
from a very early age, and as “ his laurels were gained 
in her service,” we are fully authorized to claim him 
as our o\^n. 

Walter de Manny became first acquainted with 
Edward III., while that prince was abroad during the 
reign of his hapless father, and so close a friendship 
sprung up between them, that De Manny would have 
accompanied the prince on his return to England but 
for the opposition of his sovereign, the Earl of 
Hainault, who, since his father’s death, had taken him 
under his own immediate guardianship, and who 
thought him then too young for the expedition. But 
on the marriage of Edward with Philippa, daughter of 
his guardian, Walter de Manny proceeded to England 
as page of honour to the bride. 

His first feat of arms was before Berwick, but at 
the battle of Halidon Hill he distinguished himself so 



190 


A STAR or CHIVALRY. 


gallantly that all declared him worthy of knighthood, 
which the king conferred on the field. 

While Edward was ‘‘burning in Camhray,” as he 
himself relates. Sir Walter proceeded to redeem a 
promise given to certain fair dames in England, that 
he would be the first to enter France and take some 
castle or stronghold therein. Having collected fifty 
lances, he proposed surprising the town of Montaigne. 
His proposal was received with acclamation: but the 
garrison had been forewarned, and would have quickly 
overpowered the strangers had they not succeeded in 
making good their retreat. 

Eesolving not to return baffled to the English camp, 



Sir Walter persuaded his companions to diverge by 
Conde and Valenciennes in search of adventures, and 








A STATl OF OHIYALRT. 


101 


the result justified his boldness. The governor of 
Bouchain, mistaking his little band for the advanced 
guard of a large army, threw open his gates at their 
approach; and the Castle of St. Eveque, at no great 
distance from Cambray, was taken by a coup-de-main. 

We next find this “ Star of Chivalry,” engaged in 
the relief of Hennebon, then gallantly held by Mont- 
ford’s spirited Countess, against Charles of Blois. At 
the head of a small but select body of men. Sir Walter 
threw himself into the town at the very moment when 
it was about to surrender. His arrival changed the 
’ whole affair; the negociations were broken off, and 
the troops of Charles renewed the attack with fury. 
A catapult of more than ordinary dimensions had 
greatly annoyed the townspeople by throwing enor¬ 
mous masses of stone among them. Sir Walter was 
at dinner wdth the Countess, when one of these pro¬ 
jectiles came crushing through the roof of an adjoin¬ 
ing house, to the great alarm of the ladies: but Sir 
Walter instantly vowed to destroy the machine, and, 
rising from table with the other knights, sallied from 
a postern, overturned the catapult, hewed it to pieces, 
and threw the whole camp of the enemy into confusion. 
They were pressed hard at their return, but the 
knights stood their ground until their archers and at¬ 
tendants had passed the ditch in safety. They then 
crossed the drawbridge themselves, and were received 
with acclamations by the townsmen, while the Coun¬ 
tess came down from the castle to meet them, and with 
a most cheerful countenance kissed Sir Walter and 


192 


A STAR OF CHIVALBT. 


all his companions, one after the other, like a noble - 
and valiant dame. 

Some time after this, hearing that his friends Sir John 
Botelor and Sir Matthew Trelawney, then prisoners to 
the enemy, were about to be sacrificed to Prince Louis* 
thirst for revenge, the brave De Manny called his 
knights around him, and proposed attempting their 
rescue. The only possible plan for this was a very 
daring one, but the genius of De Manny, with the 
valour of his comrades, secured them success. The 
prisoners were saved at the very moment when they 
were expecting death; and Charles, perceiving that 
he should gain little with such opponents, soon after 
retired. 

In the campaign of Gascony, one of our most 
splendid victories was due to the courage and sagacity 
of De Manny. The Earl of Derby had marched to 
the relief of Auteroche, then closely invested by the 
Count de Lisle; Lord Pembroke was to join them on 
the march, but before he came up they found them¬ 
selves in the presence of De Lisle and an army of 
10,000 men, their own force consisting of 300 men-at- 
arms, and 600 archers only. In this emergency De 
Manny’s counsel was prompt, but wise. “ Gentle¬ 
men,” said he, “it were a shame to us were our 
friends to perish, and we so nigh them; let us mount 
our horses, skirt this wood, and advance upon the 
enemy; we will come upon them unexpectedly, just 
as they are sitting down to supper, and, with St. 
George to aid us, tiny shall be discomfited.” The 


A STAR OF CmVALBY. 


193 


proposal was assented to and executed successfully. 
The Prench were beaten^ down before they knew 
whence their assailants came, and De Lisle himself 
was taken prisoner. 

But it is not only as a great warrior and accom¬ 
plished statesman that Sir Walter claims our admira¬ 
tion : his humanity was at all times as conspicuous as 
his ability. During the prevalence of the plague 
which devastated England in this reign, and while 
London was threatened by that dreadful visitant. Sir 
Walter devoted his wLole attention, and a large part 
of his means, to the mitigation of the sufferings and 
terrors of the people. He purchased a piece of ground 
of the master and brethren of St. Bartholomew Spittle, 
containing thirteen acres and a rood, and caused the 
same to be enclosed and consecrated at his own proper 
cost and charges, by Balph Stratford, Bishop of Lon¬ 
don. In this place. Stow reports that upwards of 
50,000 persons were interred. 

Sir Walter closed his military career with great 
splendour by an inroad from Calais into the heart of 
France. After this he retired to his house in London, 
where he passed the rest of his life in preparing for 
its end; he died in 1372, and was buried in the clois¬ 
ters of a Carthusian Convent founded by himself; the 
king, with a bug train of nobles, attending his funeral. 


o 


lliCJlABD II. 


liJi 


RIC H A E D II. 

1377 TO 1399. 

Eichaed II., son of Edward the Black Prince, suc« 
ceeded his grandfather, at the age of eleven, the 
government being in the hands of a regency composed 
of the young king’s three uncles, the Dukes of Lan¬ 
caster, York, and Grloucester ; the first of these, John 
of Gaunt, had much experience, but was arbitrary 
and unpopular; the Duke of York was a man of weak 
character; and Gloucester, though highly popular, 
was very turbulent and ambitious. 

Nor was the state of England either tranquil or 
prosperous at this period; the long wars of Edward 
had exhausted the resources of the kingdom. Expe¬ 
ditions continued to be sent year after year, both into 
Scotland and France: these returned for the most 
part unsuccessful, and the exigencies of the state were 
such, that an impost highly obnoxious to the people, 
and which had been proposed in the last reign, was 
now enforced and levied—this was a tax of three 
groats a head on every individual in the kingdom above 
the age of fifteen, and whether rich or poor. This tax, 
which pressed fearfully on the labouring classes, was, 



KICHABD II. 


195 


besides, most oppressively collected; and one man, 
Wat the Tyler, of Dartford, was so mucb aggrieved by 
this, that in tbe heat of the moment he killed the 
offending collector by a blow with the tool he held in 
his hand, and being applauded by his neighbours, and 
promised the general support, he placed himself at 
the head of the disaffected of his class, and was very 
soon the leader of thousands. 

Eichard, though only fifteen years old, displayed 
much courage on this occasion, and meeting a body 
of these rioters at Mile End, he so conciliated them 
by promises of freedom and redress, that all quietly 
dispersed to their homes. But Wat, with his followers, 
was meanwhile committing frightful atrocities in Lon¬ 
don. Seizing the Tower, they massacred the Arch¬ 
bishop of Canterbury and Sir Eobert Hales, who 
had taken refuge there ; they burnt the palace of the 
Savoy, belonging to John of Gaunt, against whom 
they were bitterly exasperated, and proclaimed an in¬ 
tention of destroying the whole city. They set fire to 
the priory of St. John’s-without-Smithfield, and while 
thus occupied, were met by the young king, to whom 
Wat behaved very insolently, and at length seized the 
bridle of his horse. Seeing this, Sir William Wal¬ 
worth, Mayor of London, struck a dagger into the 
rebel’s throat, and an Esquire, standing near, plunged 
a second into his side. Seeing their leader dead, the 
populace were preparing to avenge him, when the 
king, with a presence of mind beyond his years, rode 
among them, and offering himself as their captain, led 


196 


BICHARD II. 


them into St. G-eorge’s Fields, where, finding a strong 
body of soldiery, the insurgents were glad to accept a 
promise of pardon on condition of their immediate 
dispersion. Thus ended a commotion at first so 
formidable, and which is remarkable as the first com¬ 
bined effort on the part of the commons to abolish 
feudal customs, and obtain political freedom. 

But the fair promise of Eichard’s youth was un¬ 
happily not fulfilled. Led by favourites like his unfor¬ 
tunate predecessor, Edward II., he was, besides, so 
lavish in his expenditure, that 10,000 persons are said 
to have been daily feasted in his household. 

The Duke of Gloucester was the principal op¬ 
ponent of the royal favourites, and for some time his 
party was triumphant: but this did not last long; 
visiting his uncle in seeming friendship, the king 
basely betrayed him into an ambush commanded by 
the Duke of Norfolk, who sent him to Calais and had 
him there assassinated. The Earl of Arundel was at 
the same time unjustly beheaded ; and the Archbishop 
of Canterbury, the Earl of Warwick, and many other 
distinguished persons, were banished the kingdom. 

Such transactions were followed by their natural 
consequences of fear and suspicion : the now unworthy 
monarch went about surrounded by a guard of two 
hundred men, whose bows were constantly bent. 
But these could not shield him from the stings of 
conscience, and he was tortured by the fancy that 
Lord Arundel stood nightly at his bed-side wdth 
threatening gestures. 


RICHARD TI. 


197 


His nobles now fell off from their attacbment to 
him, and the Duke of Norfolk, his agent in Glouces¬ 
ter’s murder, declared to the Earl of Hereford, that 
the king meant to destroy him and his father, the 
Duke of Lancaster, on the first fair occasion. This, 
Hereford at once charged on the king : and Eichard, 
after first consenting to, and afterwards preventing a 
duel, wherein Hereford engaged to maintain his 
charge against Norfolk by the ordeal of combat, 
banished both the nobles from the kingdom, his cousin 
Hereford for ten years, and the Duke of Norfolk for 
life. 

John of Gaunt dying before the expiration of 
Hereford’s banishment, that nobleman, as his heir, 
became Duke of Lancaster : but Eichard forbade his 
assuming that title, and excluded him from the estates. 
Provoked by this act of injustice, Hereford raised an 
army, and landed in England, purposing, as he de¬ 
clared, merely to recover his lawful inheritance; but 
he found himself invited on all hands to reform his 
cousin’s unpopular government. Eichard w'as absent 
on a military expedition in Ireland, and the Duke ol 
York, who had been appointed regent in his absence, 
and who did not suspect Henry of any intentions 
beyond those he avow^ed, made common cause with 
the invader, and put into his hands the important 
fortress of Bristol. 

The king thought little at first of his cousin Henry’s 
invasion, and by his dilatory measures he rendered 
useless the efforts of the Earl of Salisbury, and others 


198 


KICHAIID II. 


who remaiued faithful to him. A meeting between 
himself and his opponent took place at Mint Castle, 
which commenced with professions of respect on 
Henry’s part, but ended in the arrest of Eichard, who, 
being led through London with circumstances of bit¬ 
ter humiliation, was conveyed to the Tower on the 
2nd of September, 1399, where he soon afterwards 
signed his abdication. 



The time and manner of Eicliard’s death are un¬ 
certain : it is supposed to have happened in 1400, and 
rumour declared him to have been starved to death 
at Pontefract Castle. 




















the justice oe our eoreeathers. 199 


Eichard’s first wife was Anne of Bohemia, who 
taught English ladies to use side-saddles; he left no 
children, and occupied the throne twenty-three years. 


THE JUSTICE OF OUE FOEEFATHEES. 

We would fain tell you Stories that might serve as 
examples to awaken your emulation, but unhappily 
history supplies such but very scantily; the melancholy 
reign we have just looked through is more especially 
deficient in them. The manners of those violent times 
are to be described only by narrations of violence; and 
of these the life of the king’s half-brother, Sir John 
Holaud, presents a variety that depicts the state of 
society at that period but too faithfully. 

The mother of Eichard was an English princess of 
the blood royal, and called for her beauty “the Fair 
Maid of Kentto this lady his father, the Black 
Prince, formed an early attachment; but her charac¬ 
ter was not equal to her looks, and the prudent Phi¬ 
lippa refused her consent to the marriage. Joan of 
Kent then married Sir Thomas Holand, who left her 
a widow with two sons, one of whom, the eldest, is 
the person of whose furious proceedings I am about 
to give you a few instances. It was after her widow¬ 
hood that Joan of Kent became the wife of Prince 
Edward, and the mother of Eichard II. 



200 THE JUSTICE or oub foiiefatuebs. 

A Carmelite friar one day approached the king, 
to whom he presented a paper containing the particu¬ 
lars of a conspiracy, which he declared to be at that 
moment forming against him by the Duke of Lancas¬ 
ter. Desirous of examining the Carmelite further on 
the subject, Richard committed him to the safe keep¬ 
ing of his half brother, Sir John Holand, in whose 
care he was to remain until the king should find 
leisure for questioning him more minutely. 

It so chanced that the Carmelite, conversing with 
Holand, suffered the fierce knight to perceive that 
certain portions of his testimony were likely to impli¬ 
cate persons whom he had no mind to have accused, 
and, falling on the unhappy monk, the furious mon¬ 
ster strangled him with his own hands ! nor unclosed 
the deadly grasp from around the throat of his de¬ 
voted victim until the last breath had been sobbed 
forth from his blackened and disfigured corse. It was 
in vain that the voice of justice called for vengeance 
on this monster in human form. The king drove the 
assassin from his presence for a short time, but the 
infiuence of their common mother soon restored him 
to his usual favour, and he received a free pardon. 

The forbearance of Richard produced no good effect 
on his guilty brother, and within a year from the 
murder of the Carmelite, a second of equal atrocity 
was committed in the manner following:—An Esquire 
belonging to Sir John Holand had been killed in a 
fray by one of the Earl of Stafford’s archers, where¬ 
upon Sir John swore, in the heat of his anger, that he 


THE JUSTICE OP OUR FOREPATIIER3. 201 

would neither eat nor drink until he had avenged his 
death. This vow he kept by plunging his dagger into 
the bosom of Lord Stafford’s son, whom he met by 
accident some short time afterwards. Having com¬ 
pleted his wicked work, he turned to inquire what 
member of Lord Stafford’s household it was that he 
had slain, when being told that it was his own son, he 
declared that “ the matter contented him thoroughly.” 
“Be it so,” exclaimed the brutal Holand, “I had 
rather have put him to death than one of less rank, 
for so have I better avenged the loss of my squire.” 

The unfortunate father demanded the punishment 
of the assassin, while his mother again attempted to 
mediate in his favour, but Bichard on this occasion 
displayed more severity than he had thought needful 
for the murder of a poor friendless friar, and confis¬ 
cated the offender’s estates. Sir John finding matters 
serious, took refuge in the sanctuary of St. John of 
Beverley. The king declared he would hang him up 
if he came without the sanctuary; but their unhappy 
mother dying, and as it was said of grief for her son’s 
danger, the king once more relented, and granted his 
guilty relative a second pardon. 

Sir John soon after married the second daughter of 
the Duke of Lancaster, so that his monstrous crimes 
do not in any way appear to have produced that hor¬ 
ror of the criminal, which to us they seem so calcu¬ 
lated to awaken; neither do his furious actions appear 
to have rendered him in the least unpopular with the 
gentle lords and ladies of his time. This shows that 


202 THE JUSTICE OE OUR FOEEFATHEES. 

the fault was quite as much in the age as in the in¬ 
dividual, hut that such a life should meet an appro¬ 
priate end can in no way surprise us. We find it 
recorded that Holand, afterwards Earl of Hunting¬ 
don, while flying from the consequences of a detected 
conspiracy in the reign of Henry IV., fell into the 
hands of the Duke of Grloucester’s vassals; and they, 
suspecting, perhaps with justice, that he had taken 
part in their master’s supposed murder, rewarded him 
for what they believed his share therein, by chopping 
off his head with a hatchet: and so ended the king’s 
wicked brother. 
















BENIIY IV, 


203 


THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER. 

HENEY IV., SUENAMED OF BOLINOBEOKE 

1399 TO 1413. 


—•— 

Edmund Mortimer, Earl of Marcb, was heir to the 
throne by hereditary succession on the demise of 
Eichard II.; and Henry, conscious that his was not 
the rightful claim, had recourse to various prudential 
measures for the security of his crown. He procured 
an Act of Parliament excluding the other descendants 
of Edward III., and entailiug the succession on him¬ 
self and his heirs; he secured the favour of the clergy, 
by declaring himself the protector of the Church 
against the Lollards, or followers of Wyklilfe, al¬ 
though he had formerly espoused the cause of that 
sect. But he was nevertheless harassed by many 
conspiracies and difficulties of various sorts; among 
these, the most serious was a revolt of the Welsh 
provinces, instigated by Owen Glendower, a lineal 
descendant of the ancient Welsh princes, and a man 
of great skill and intrepidity. This chieftain, first 
powerfully opposed by Percy, Earl of Northumber¬ 
land, and by his son, Harry Hotspur, was afterwards 



204 


HENRY IV. 


joined by tliose nobles, and by Edmund Mortimer, 
who, first his prisoner, had afterwards become his 
friend and son-in-law. This formidable rebellion was 
subdued—the younger Percy being slain in battle, 
and the elder being received by Henry to mercy; but 
the Earl of Worcester, who had also taken part in it, 
was beheaded. 



Some time afterwards, the Archbishop of York, 
a relation of the Percys, attempted another insurrec¬ 
tion, but it was easily suppressed; as was a third, set 
on foot by the Earl of Northumberland at a later pe¬ 
riod : nor was the reign of Henry afterwards dis¬ 
turbed by any other competitor. 

In the year 1401, a Lollard minister, William Saw- 
trey, Hector of St. Oswyth, London, was publicly 
burnt, because he refused to worship the cross, and 






HENEl IT. 


205 


denied tlie doctrine of transubstantiation; nor was 
this the only martyr wbo then died in the same 
cause. 

The "Welsh insurgents long continued very trou¬ 
blesome, but were at length subdued ; their leader, 
Owen Griendower, closing his days peacefully in a 
good old age. A peace was also concluded with 
France and Scotland ; but the quiet of Henry was ren¬ 
dered imperfect by the turbulent conduct of his eldest 
son. This prince, who had distinguished himself highly 
against the Percys in the battle of Shrewsbury, was 
given up to every kind of profligacy, and all his fa¬ 
ther’s efforts to restrain him were ineffectual. His 
court was the receptacle of libertines, debauchees, buf¬ 
foons, and parasites. However, amidst these gloomy 
apprehensions of the character of the future king, a 
simple circumstance gave a ray of hope of his future 
amendment. 

One of his favourites, being arraigned for felony 
before Chief Justice Gascoigne, the prince resolved to 
be present at the trial, with the design to overawe the 
judge. But his presence not preventing the criminal’s 
condemnation, he was so enraged that he struck the 
judge on the face. The chief justice, considering the 
consequences of such an act, instantly commanded 
him to be arrested on the spot, and conveyed to prison. 
The royal offender, instead of resisting, as might have 
been expected, permitted himself to be taken to the 
Marshalsea. Hearing this, the king was so much 
gratifled, that he exclaimed,—‘‘ Happy the king who 


206 


HENRY lY. 


has SO faithful a magistrate, and still more happy the 
parent who has a son willing to submit to such a 
chastisement.” This is one of the earliest instances 
we have of law taking the supremacy of arbitrary 
power. 

The last years of Henry’s life were much enfeebled 
by ill health; he felt a great desire to go to the Holy 
Land on a crusading expedition, and even made pre¬ 
parations for doing so. He became childishly anxious 
about his crown, placing it always on his pillow, lest 
it should be seized before he was dead. One day, the 
prince being in his father’s chamber, and not per¬ 
ceiving him to breathe, believed him dead, and re¬ 
moved the crown from the pillow, for which the king, 
on awakening, severely reproved him, at the same 
time reminding him that neither he nor his father 
had any good right to it. 

“ My lord,” replied Henry, “ it is my intention to 
hold and defend it by my sword as you have done.” 
The king sighed, and praying God to have mercy upon 
him, expired shortly after, March the 19th, 1413, in 
the forty-sixth year of his age, and fourteenth of his 
reign. 

The wives of Henry were—first, Mary de Bohun, 
the mother of Henry V.; and secondly, Jane of 
Navarre. 

In this reign fiourished the celebrated Eichard 
Whittington, thrice Lord Mayor of London; he built 
Newgate, the greater part of St. Bartholomew’s Hospi¬ 
tal, the east part of Guildhall, and the Library in Grey 


WUEEE SLEEPS THE KING ? 


207 


Friars, now called Christ’s Hospital. Whittington 
College, near Stepney, also owes its foundation to the 
same munificent benefactor. The Kew College, Ox¬ 
ford, was also founded by William Wykham, Bishop 
of Winchester, who was celebrated for his genius in 
architecture. 


WHEEE SLEEPS THE KING ? 

The tomb of King Henry lY. is near the site once 
occupied by the shrine of St. Thomas a Beckett, where 
the superstition of Henry had anxiously fixed its 
place ; but the story that follows casts a doubt on the 
fact of his tody reposing in the spot he thought so 
hallowed, and if the relation we are about to give may 
be credited, it “ rests not there.” 

The circumstance is thus related by Clement Mayde- 
stone, whose manuscript is now in the library of Ben- 
net College, Cambridge. 

“ Thirty days after the death of Henry lY., one of 
his domestics came to the house of the Holy Trinity 
at Hounslow, and dined there; and as the bystanders 
were talking at dinner of the king’s irreproachable 
morals, this man said to a certain esquire, named 
Thomas Maydestone, then sitting at table—‘ Whether 
he was a good man or not, God know’s ; but of this I 
am certain, that when his corpse was carried from 
Westminster towards Canterbury (by water) in a 



208 


WHERE SLEEPS THE Ki:sG? 


small vessel, in order to be buried there, I and two 
more threw his corpse into the sea, between Birking- 
ham and Gravesend. For,’ he added with an oath, 
‘we were overtaken by such a storm of winds and 
waves, that many of the nobility, who followed us in 
eight ships, were dispersed so as with difficulty to 
escape being lost; but we who were witli the body, 
despairing of our lives, with one consent threw it into 
the sea, and a great calm ensued. The coffin in which 
it lay, covered with a cloth of gold, we carried wdth 
great solemnity to Canterbury.’ The monks of Can¬ 
terbury say that the tomb, not the body, of Henry lY. 
is with us. As God Almighty is my witness and 
judge, I saw this man, and heard him speak to my 
father, Thomas Maydestone, that all the above was 
true. 

(Signed) “ Clement Maydestone.” 

This story is to be received with caution, as coming 
from two men who were known to have been sworn 
enemies to Henry, as the Maydestones were; but the 
antiquarians of the present century have thought 
Clement’s narrative sufficiently worthy of attention, 
to induce the examination of the tomb, which took 
place accordingly on the 21st of August, 1832. The 
following account is given by an eye-witness;—“ When 
the rubbish was cleared away, we came to a wooden 
case of very rude form and construction; upon this 
lay a leaden coffin, of much smaller size, and very sin¬ 
gular shape. This was the last abode of Jane of 
Navarre.” 


WIIEIIE SLEEPS THE KING? 


209 


“ Not being able to take off the lid of the large 
coffin, as a great portion of its length was under the 
tomb, an aperture was sawed in the lid ; immediately 
under the coffin board was found a quantity of hay- 
bands, filling that part of the coffin, and on them lay 
a very rude cross, formed by merely tying two twigs 
together: this fell to pieces on being moved. When 
the haybands, which were very sound and perfect, were 
removed, we found a leaden case or coffin in some de¬ 
gree moulded to the shape of a human figure. It was 
evident that this had never been disturbed, but lav as 
originally deposited, though it may be difficult to con¬ 
jecture why it was placed in a case so rude and un¬ 
sightly, and so much too large for it that haybands 
had been used to keep it steady. After cutting 
through lead and leather wrappers, the covers were 
lifted up, and the face of the king (?) appeared in per¬ 
fect preservation; the nose elevated, the cartilage 
even remaining, though, on admission of air, it rapidly 
sunk away ; the skin of the chin entire; beard thick 
and matted; jaws perfect, and all the teeth in them, 
one fore tooth excepted: the queen’s body was not 
examined. 

“ Although the gentleman who relates the above 
seems convinced that he has seen the king, and no 
other, still the absence of royal insignia—the coffin too 
small for its case, and filled in with haybands, as done 
by men in haste who, having thrown the corpse, that 
their superstition made them fear, into the waves, 
had supplied its place from some burial place on their 


p 


210 


WHERE SLEEPS THE KING? 


road; tlie cross of wych elm, showing the supersti 
tious fears of the ministrants ; and lastly, the perfect 
state of the skin—would all seem to give some colour 
to the narration of Maydestone ; for Henry was suf¬ 
fering from a grievous leprosy, which had much dis¬ 
figured his face before his death .”—Miss Strickland's 
“ Queens of JEngland." 




HENllY V. 


I'll 


HENEY V., CALLED HENRY OF 
MONMOUTH. 

1413 TO 1422. 

- * - 

The defective title of tins prince was no obstacle to 
his peaceful accession, and the earnest reformation of 
conduct that instantly followed, gave the fairest hopes 
of his future reign. He treated his father’s ministers, 
and in particular Judge Gascoigne, with great favour ; 
received the young Earl of March into his especial 
friendship, notwithstanding that March’s title to the 
crown w'as superior to his own, and showed his grati¬ 
tude for kindness received in his childhood at the hands 
of Eichard II., by causing the body of that unfortunate 
prince to be re-interred at Westminster. 

But these evidences of right feeling were greatly 
weakened in their effect by extreme intolerance in 
matters of religion. Giving ear to the wicked counsels 
of Arundel, Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry became 
the virulent persecutor of the Lollards, a religious sect 
that arose in Germany, and whose principles were 
adopted by the early reformers of the Church in 
England, whom he imprisoned, and even burnt in great 
numbers. This occasioned much disaffection; and 
partly to prevent the growth of this, but principally to 



212 


IIE.NIIY V. 


gratify liis personal ambition, the king resolved on a 
war witli France, the insanity of whose sovereign, 
Charles YI., together with the factions by which that 
kingdom was rent in pieces, giving him a fair prospect 
of success. 

Landing at Harfleur, the English king took that 
fortress after considerable difficulty ; but his army be¬ 
ing much weakened by disease, he was compelled to 
retreat towards Calais, and on his way thither en¬ 
countered the French army, commanded by the con¬ 
stable D’Albreth. More than four times the number 
of the English, the French promised themselves an 
easy victory : encamped near the village of Agincourt, 
they “ seemed to the eye like an innumerable multi¬ 
tude of locusts;” but a brave AYelshman of Henry’s 
army, being asked his opinion of their numbers, de¬ 
clared only that there were “ enough to be killed, 
enough to be taken prisoners, and enough to run away.” 
The king himself, though sensible to the exceeding peril 
of his position, preserved the most unshaken equa¬ 
nimity ; he took up his groundwith admirable judgment, 
and the result of the battle of Agincourt was the total 
defeat of the French army with great slaughter, and 
the capture of 14,000 prisoners—a number exceeding 
the whole amount of the English army. After thig 
great victory, Henry returned to England, but again 
entered France with an army in 1417, pretending to 
assist i-he King of France against the Dauphin, who 
was in arms opposing his father ; and on this occasion, 
Henry married Catharine, daughter of the Frencli 




HENRY V. 


213 


king, and was declared heir to the crown of France — 
Charles YI. to enjoy the title and dignity while he 
lived, Henry being intrusted with the administration 
of government. 

The subjugation of the Dauphin was an enterprise 
of great difficulty ; Prince Charles having learnt cau¬ 
tion from various defeats, refused all general engage¬ 
ments, and carried on a protracted and harassing 
warfare. The health of Henry was besides much 
weakened by the many hardships to which his wars 
had subjected him; but undeterred by this, he pro¬ 
ceeded by forced marches to relieve the garrison of 
Cosne, in Burgundy, which had been reduced by the 
Dauphin to great extremities. He was seized on his 
way by a fever, which compelled him to resign the 
command of the army to his brother, the Duke of 
Bedford. Feeling his death approach, he desired that 
the Duke of Burgundy should be offered the regency 
of France during his son’s minority; that, in the event 
of Burgundy’s declining that arduous office, it should 
devolve on the Duke of Bedford, whom he named 
Protector of England. Having constituted the Earl 
of Warwick guardian of his infant heir, and performed 
his religious duties with great devotion, he expired on 
the 31 st of August, 1422, in the thirty-sixth year of 
his age, and the tenth of his reign. 

The story we have to tell you of this period is a 
very melancholy one, but will show how great cause 
for thankfulness we possess, who live in a day when 
no man can be persecuted for his religious opinions. 


214 


THE GOOD LORD CODUAM. 


THE GOOD LOED COBHAM. 

Sir John Oldcastle —commonly called the good 
Lord Cobham—obtained his peerage by marriage with 
the daughter of that Lord Cobham, whom your future 
readings in more important and extensive works than 
this, will show to you as the upright and patriotic op- 
poser of Eichard II.’s tyrannies. 

Erom his early youth Sir John Oldcastle was a 
zealous disciple of Wykliffe, and besides expending 
large sums in the transcription and circulation of that 
reformer’s writings, he maintained a number of his 
followers as itinerant preachers in various parts of the 
country. In conjunction with others of the reforming 
party, he prepared a series of articles against the 
abuses then prevalent among churchmen, which were 
presented in form of a remonstrance to the Commons. 
These measures drew upon him the anger of the whole 
ecclesiastical body, and various attempts were made 
to crush him. 

On the accession of Henry lY., Lord Cobham was 
invited to court, and soon after received, with the 
Earl of Arundel, the joint command of an armament, 
which Henry was then despatching to the aid of the 
Duke of Burgundy. 

The reign of the Fifth Henry was deeply stained by 
religious persecutions, as we have before remarked, and 
the most industrious promoter of these was the Arch- 


THE GOOD LORD COBHAM. 


215 


bishop of Canterbury, a turbulent, seditious man, whose 
whole life had been a struggle for supremacy. 

Eichard II. complains bitterly of this prelate’s 
assumption, and, expostulating on the subject with 
Pope Boniface IX., he says, “ If you have a mind to 
provide for him elsewhere, we have nothing to object, 
only we cannot allow him to dip in our dish.” Such 
was the man who now prevailed on Henry to appoint 
a commission at Oxford—the great seat of the Wyk- 
liffite doctrines—to inquire into the progress of 
heresy. 

These commissioners reported that the new errors 
continued to spread and fester among the students, 
and that this was mainly owing to Lord Cobham, who 
not only avowedly held heretical opinions himself, but 
encouraged scholars, by bountiful stipends, to propa¬ 
gate these opinions throughout the country. The 
convocation hereupon determined to enforce the penal¬ 
ties of the wicked law passed for the burning of heretics 
in the preceding reign, and to which this very Arundel 
had been the principal instrument, against the noble 
who had formerly been the church’s opponent. But 
the king, unwilling to sacrifice his faithful servant and 
friend, undertook to convince him of his errors. Cob- 
ham’s reply to the speech wherein Henry attempted 
this, is on record :—“ I ever have been and ever will 
be a dutiful subject to your Majesty; next to the 
obedience I owe my God, is that which I profess to 
my king: but for the spiritual dominion of the Pope, 
I cannot see on what it is founded, neither can I pa’^ 


216 


THE GOOD LOED COBHAM. 


him obedience. As sure as the "Word of Grod is true, 
so surely does it seem to me that the Pope is the great 
Antichrist foretold in holy writ.” The king now per¬ 
mitted Arundel to take his own course. Lord Cobh am 
was cited before the ecclesiastical tribunal, and, fail¬ 
ing to appear, was solemnly excommunicated. 

We cannot enter into the details of his subsequent 
trials; suffice it to say, that all were borne bravely and 
without the least wavering in faith. Contriving to 
escape from the Tower, he lived for some time in the 
protection of certain Welsh chieftains, among the 
fastnesses of Wales. 

The church party of the day succeeded in convincing 
Henry, that Cobham was engaged in treasonable prac¬ 
tices, and a price was put on his head. That all these 
things were pure inventions of his enemies has since 
been proved, but this did not avail him. After four 
years passed in various retreats among the Welsh 
mountains, he was at length betrayed by Lord Powis, 
and, being conveyed to London, he was burnt, with 
circumstances of great cruelty, in 1417, 












HENEl VI 


2L7 


HENEY VI. 

1422 TO 1461. 

•- ^ -* 


This prince was only nine months old at the death of 
his father. His education, instead of being confided 
to the Earl of Warwick, Henry’s faithful and trusted 
friend, was intrusted to Beaufort, Bishop of Win¬ 
chester, an ambitious prelate, who saw in that import¬ 
ant office only a means of increasing his own power 
and influence. 

The death of Charles of France following quickly 
on that of Henry Y., the Duke of Bedford caused the 
infant, Henry YI., to be proclaimed King of France, 
and received the homage of such French nobles as 
were attached to the English interests, in his nephew’s 
name. The wisdom of the Duke’s measures induced 
many persons, hitherto hostile, to join his party: in¬ 
somuch that the Dauphin, who, at his father’s death, 
had assumed the title of Charles YIT., had little chance 
for success ; his capital and the greater part of his for¬ 
tresses being in the hands of th^ English, the most 
powerful vassals of the French empire having sworn 
allegiance to the English sovereign, and his most im¬ 
portant adherents being prisoners in England. The 



218 


HENRY VI. 


Daupliin’s chief hope was in his Scottish allies; but 
even this was destroyed in a battle, fought A.D. 1424', 
when the Earl of Buchan was slain and his troops 
utterly routed by the Duke of Bedford. 

These successes were rendered vain by the conten¬ 
tious spirit of Beaufort, whose disputes with the Duke 
of Gloucester—regent of England in Bedford’s ab¬ 
sence—recalled the Protector to England; and when, 
having partially reconciled these, the duke returned 
to Erance, he found that the English interest had 
greatly declined, and this principally in consequence 
of an occurrence for which history presents no parallel. 

This was the appearance of Joan of Arc, or, as she 
is commonly called by historians, the “Maid of Or¬ 
leans.” This woman, the servant of a small inn at 
Domremy, believed herself to have verbal communi¬ 
cations with different saints, and to be the destined 
restorer of Charles of Erance to his throne; the prince 
was reduced at this time to the last extremity, yet the 
Maid of Orleans confidently affirmed that he should 
soon be crowned at Blieims after the manner of his 
ancestors; she was for some time disregarded, but 
her services being at length accepted, she appeared in 
armour at the head of the troops, and such was the 
superstition of the times, that her confident assertions 
not only encouraged her own party, but struck a panic 
into the English, that was probably one great cause of 
her after triumphs. Be this as it may, the promises 
Joan had made to the King of Erance were performed 
to the letter: he was crowned at Bheims, and, although 


HENRY VI. 


219 


the Duke of Bedford had Henry publicly crowned at 
Paris, immediately afterwards, yet the English power 
in Prance still continued to decline. 

On the 30th of May, 1431, the Maid of Orleans 
having been taken prisoner, was cruelly burnt to death 
at Eouen. It is difficult to say to what party most 
disgrace attaches on account of this barbarous murder; 
whether to the Burgundians who sold the maid of Or¬ 
leans ; the English who permitted her execution; the 
French of that party who brought it about and perpe¬ 
trated it; or the French, of the opposite side, who 
made so few efforts to rescue her to whom they owed 
their liberation and their national existence: the story 
throughout is disgraceful to every party, friend and foe. 
Nor did the advantages follow that were expected 
from the death of Joan ; the Duke of Burgundy, long 
the most powerful partizan of England, concluded a 
treaty with Charles, and the death of the Protector 
himself, which followed soon after this treaty, was 
succeeded by losses which paved the way for the final 
expulsion of the English from France. 

The Duke of York, a near relative of the English 
crown, succeeded Bedford in the regency of France, 
and, during a suspension of hostilities between the 
two countries, a marriage was concluded between 
Henry and Margaret, daughter of Eegnier, Duke of 
Aujou. The Duke of Gloucester, having strongly 
opposed this marriage, was removed from the royal 
council by the intrigues of Beaufort (now a cardinal), 
and the queen, who highly resented his opposition to 


220 


HENRY TT. 


her elevation. Grioucester’s duchess, bemg accused of 
witchcraft, was condemned to do public penance in 
St. Paul’s Church, and afterwards imprisoned for life: 
himself, dying in prison, while under a charge of 
high treason, and was said to have been assassinated 
by orders of the queen. 

The death of this prince was followed by that of 
Beaufort, who is described as suffering agonies of 
remorse in his last moments; soon afterwards began 
the terrible struggle known as the "Wars of the Boses, 
and which deluged the kingdom with blood. 

And now mark the retribution that falls on the 
wicked. The death of Gloucester, procured by Mar¬ 
garet, was the primal cause of all her own misfortunes; 
it opened a path to E-ichard, Duke of York, who, from 
this moment, aspired to the crown. And tracing his 
descent, by the female line, to Lionel, second son of 
Edward III., while Henry was descended from John 
of Gaunt, a yownger son of the same monarch, he is 
by many thought to have had the better right. 

An insurrection broke out about this time in Kent, 
which at first threatened to be formidable; it was 
headed by a man called Jack Cade, who, pretending 
to be a relation of the Duke of York, assumed the 
name of Mortimer. The rebels, after beheading Lord 
Say, the late high treasurer, and Sir James Cromer, 
the sheriff of Kent, entered London and proceeded to 
plunder the city; but their leader being killed, and a 
proclamation issued, of pardon for all who returned to 
their allegiance, the insurgents soon dispersed. 


HENET VI 


221 


^ The king, who had never been more than a mere 
cipher in the hands of his queen, displayed such total 
incapacity, that the parliament found it necessary to 
appoint a protector, and the Duke of Xork was chosen 



to that office. He performed the duties of Eoyalty for 
some time without appearing to desire its honours, 
but the king being prevailed on to declare before par¬ 
liament a determination to govern by himself, the 






























222 


UENllY VI. 


duke retired into Wales, where he raised a large army, 
and, attacking the king’s troops at St. Albans, May 
23rd, 1455, gained a decisive victory, and took Henry 
himself, with many of his adherents, prisoners. 

Undismayed by this outset, the queen levied new 
forces, and in her turn defeated the Yorkists in 
several battles, by one of which she liberated the per¬ 
son of the king, who seems to have been an indifferent 
spectator of these events, although by no means want¬ 
ing in personal bravery. 

Desirous of putting an end to the sanguinary con¬ 
test, the most distinguished peers now atternpted to 
bring about a reconciliation; certain articles of peace 
were agreed on, and the Duke of York was seen pub¬ 
licly leading the queen by the hand in seeming con¬ 
cord. But this truce was soon proved to be a hollow 
one, the war was renewed with increased violence, and 
multitudes perished on both sides, both in the field 
and on the scaffold. At length a battle was fought 
near Wakefield, in which the Yorkists were defeated, 
and the duke himself, with his second son, the Earl 
of Eutland, was slain. 

Overjoyed at her victory, the queen ordered the 
duke’s body to be decapitated, placed a paper crown 
on the head in derision of his royal claims, and com¬ 
manded it to be raised on one of the gates of York. 

She now believed her triumph secure, but events 
quickly showed the fallacy of her expectation. Ed¬ 
ward, eldest son of the Duke of York, and then called 
Earl of March, was at a distance levying troops when 


HEI^RT YJ. 


OOQ 

the battle of Wakefield took place ; but hearing of its 
result, and of the indignities offered to his father’s 
body, he hurried to encounter the queen’s forces, and 
having gained a partial victory at Mortimer’s Cross, 
near Hereford, proceeded at once to London, where 
he was proclaimed king by a general assembly of the 
citizens; such nobles and clergy as were in London 
at the time taking also the oath of allegiance to him 
by the title of Edward IV. This took place, A.D. 
1461, and here the reign of that very weak monarch, 
may be said to have closed; for, though the struggle 
still continued with various success, and he was for a 
short time restored to his throne by the enterprise of 
his queen and the intervention of Lord Warwick, yet 
he was never afterwards generally recognised as king. 




EDWAIiD 1 \. 


2‘^4 


HOUSE OF YOEK. 

EDWARD IV. 

1461 TO 1483. 


This prince had just completed his twentieth year 
when he obtained possession of the crown. His per¬ 
son was remarkably good, his deportment affable, and 
his general character enterprising and brave; but 
these better qualities were marred by great cruelty 
and ferocity. 

Queen Margaret still continued to struggle for 
Henry’s rights, and assembled an army of 60,000 men, 
which was met by Edward and the Earl of Warwick, 
at Towton, in Yorkshire, where the queen being de¬ 
feated with great loss, was compelled to retire into 
Scotland with her husband and son. Edward soon 
afterwards entered York, and having taken down the 
heads of his father and Lord Salisbury from its gates, 
he set those of the queen’s vanquished generals, the 
Earls of Devon, Wiltshire, and others in their place. 

Returning to London, the king now summoned the 
parliament, for the purpose of being acknowledged 
legitimate heir to the crown, and of passing acts of 


ET)WARD IV. 


225 


attainder against the different members of the house 
of Lancaster, and such nobles as still adhered to it. 
The confiscated possessions of these persons were at 
once vested in the crown, which greatly increased the 
royal treasure ; but Edward was not permitted a long 
repose. The unwearied Margaret had passed from 
Scotland into Erance, and had prevailed on its king, 
Louis XI., to furnish her with a small army, at the 
head of which she landed in England, but was again 
defeated in a battle fought at Hexham. Henry, who 
had been reluctantly dragged from his retreat, was 
taken prisoner, and committed by Edward to the 
Tower; while Margaret herself, with her young son 
Edward, escaped with much difficulty to the conti¬ 
nent. 


THE BOAT ON THE SOLWAY. 

When the victorious Yorkists broke into the Lan¬ 
castrian camp at, Hexham Levels, Margaret, seized 
with mortal terror for the life of her child, fled with 
him on foot and alone into the neighbouring forest, 
where she pursued her way by the most unfrequented 
paths, in momentary dread of being overtaken by the 
enemy. Here she unhappily fell in with a band of 
robbers, who, attracted by the richness of her dress 
and that of the young prince, surrounded and de¬ 
spoiled them of their jewels and costly robes. While 

a 



226 


EDWARD lY. 


these ruffians were quarrelling about the division of 
tlieir plunder, Margaret, whose courage and presence 
of mind had saved her from a similar peril, when cap¬ 
tured by Lord Stanley’s followers after the battle of 
Northampton, caught up her son in her arms, and fled 
to a neighbouring thicket, the robbers being too much 
occupied in fighting over the rich booty they had 
taken, to observe her movements, favoured as they 
were by the inequalities of the ground. 



When the shades of night closed round them, the 
fugitive queen and her son crept fearfully from their 
hiding place, and, uncertain whither to turn for re¬ 
fuge, began to attempt making their way through the 
forest, fearing above all else to fall into the hands of 
Edward’s partizans. One wrong turn might lead 






EDWAED IA^ 


227 


them into the very midst of their enemies. While 
Margaret, bewildered with doubt and fear, was consi¬ 
dering what was best to be done, she perceived by the 
light of the moon another robber approaching her, 
with his sword drawn. Grathering courage from the 
desperation of her case, the queen took her child by 
the hand, and presenting him to the freebooter, she 
said, “ Here is the son of your king, my friend—save 
his life!” A few words now explained to Margaret 
that the outlaw before her was a Lancastrian gentle¬ 
man ruined in her husband’s cause. He took the 
prince in his arms, and led the queen to his own re¬ 
treat, a cave in Hexham Forest, still known by the 
name of “ Queen Margaret’s Cave,” where the royal 
fugitives received such comfort and refreshment as 
the outlawed gentleman’s wife could furnish. 

In this retreat the queen and prince remained for 
two days of dreadful suspense and fear. On the third 
morning, their host encountered Sir Pierre de Breze, 
one of Margaret’s knights, with his squire Barville, 
and an English gentleman, all of whom having es¬ 
caped the slaughter at Hexham, were making anxious 
search for their mistress. 

Accompanied by De Breze and his squire, and 
guided by the outlaw, Margaret now took the road to 
Carlisle, whence a passage to Scotland had previously 
been secured, and they landed safely at Kirkcud¬ 
bright. But there was an Englishman named Corb in 
the town, to whom Margaret’s person, which was too 
beautiful and majestic to pass unnoticed, was unhap- 


228 


EDWAED IV. 


pily known. This man was a zealous Yorkist; he 
surprised Margaret’s brave protectors, Breze and 
Barville, and hurried them on board a vessel; be had 
then no difficulty in carrying off the queen and her 
son, whom he placed in the same boat, designing to 
deliver all four into the hands of Edward, and thereby 
secure his own fortune. It was night, and neither 
party knew that the others were captive, until the 
morning sun enabled them to recognise each other. 
The great personal strength of Breze, however, had 
enabled him to extricate himself from his bonds in the 
course of the night. When he had also undone those 
of his squire, they were but two against five; but, hav¬ 
ing got possession of the oars, they contrived to mas¬ 
ter their opponents, and after a desperate struggle, 
slew some and threw the rest overboard, not without 
extreme danger of upsetting the boat. After tossing 
about for some hours in the Gulf of Solway, the wind 
drove the boat on a sand-bank near Cantyre, where 
she was in momentary danger of being beaten to 
pieces by the waves. At length Breze, wading knee- 
deep in sand and water, succeeded in conveying the 
queen on his shoulders to a dry spot, while Barville 
followed with the prince. The coast they had gained 
was wild and barren, but here at least Margaret had 
no fear of being recognised, since the peasantry were 
little likely to believe any one a queen, who did not 
appear with a crown on her head and a sceptre in her 
hand. In one of these obscure hamlets Margaret re¬ 
mained with her son, and eventually reached Flanders 


EDWARD IV. 


229 


witli the prince and some of her ladies, whom she had 
found at Bamborough, and was there joined bj such 
friends as still adhered to her fallen fortunes, among 
others, by Doctor Morton, afterwards Cardinal-Arch¬ 
bishop of York. 

Having now a breathing time from his opponents, 
Edward bethought himself of marriage, and, it is said, 
despatched the Earl of Warwick, to demand for him 
the French king’s sister, the Lady Bona of Savoy; 
but in the earl’s absence he became attached to Eliza¬ 
beth Woodville, widow of Sir John Gray, a gentleman 
who had fallen in behalf of Henry YI. This lady he 
married, to the great displeasure of Warwick, who 
turned in consequence to the party of Queen Margaret, 
with w^hom he entered into a treaty for the restoration 
of Henry to his throne ; Prince Edward being married 
at the same time to his daughter, the Lady Anne Ne¬ 
ville, and the regency of England being promised to 
him during Edward’s minority. 

In pursuance of this arrangement, the earl landed 
in England with a formidable army, and was joined by 
the most distinguished Lancastrians. Edward was 
now so much occupied by his pleasures as to be com¬ 
pletely taken by surprise. Deserted by all in whom 
he had most confided, he found disafiPection and trea¬ 
chery all around him, and was compelled to quit his 
kingdom without having made one efibrt to defend 
it. 

Henry YI. was liberated from confinement, and be- 


230 


rDWARD IT. 


ing proclaimed anew by AYarvvick, who had formerly 
promoted his expulsion, and who, from his readiness in 
setting np sovereigns, was called the king-maker, was 
led with great pomp through the streets of London, 
and once more replaced on the throne. 



Bills of attainder, confiscations, and public execu¬ 
tions followed, though with less severity than had 
marked the rise of the house of York ; but the Lan¬ 
castrians did not triumph long. Impatient of his dis¬ 
grace, Edward landed with a small army at Eavenspur, 
in Yorkshire, and declaring that he came only to re¬ 
cover his hereditary possessions, and not to claim the 
crown, he was soon joined by numbers, that made his 
force formidable. The Earl of Warwick marched on 
to Leicester to give Edward battle, but the latter, 
having passed to London by another road, obtained 
possession of that city and of Henry’s person, whom 
he again committed to the Tower. 

Elated by this success, Edward instantly turned 
back to encounter the approaching troops of Warwick, 
whom he met and slew in a sanguinary battle fought 
at Barnet. This victory was attributable in great 


EUWAllD IV. 


231 


part to the Duke of Clarence, Edward’s brother, who, 
having married Warwick’s daughter, had joined his 
enterprise, but now treacherously carried over to his 
brother’s camp his whole force of 12,000 men, with¬ 
drawing from Warwick the night preceding the battle. 

Still undiscouraged by their many reverses. Queen 
Margaret and her son. Prince Edward, made one more 
elFort for the recovery of their rights. Landing at 
Weymouth on the day of the battle of Barnet, Mar¬ 
garet, astounded for the moment by that disastrous 
event, retired to take refuge in a sanctuary at Beau¬ 
lieu ; but determining to risk one more struggle, she 
met the Yorkists at Tewkesbury, where her troops 
were totally routed, almost every leader of distinction 
either falling in the battle, or perishing afterwards on 
the scaffold. 

Queen Margaret fled from the battle of Tewkesbury, 
but being taken, was kept prisoner until ransomed by 
her father, in whose dominions she ended her unhappy 
life, A.D. 1482. 

Soon after the action of Tewkesbury, King Henry 
died in prison. The only remaining heir of the Lan¬ 
castrian house was the young Henry Tudor, Earl of 
Bichmond, who escaped into Brittany, together with 
his brother, the Earl of Pembroke. 

Secure of peace at home, Edward now commenced a 
war with Prance; but this proved unsuccessful, and 
soon terminated in the peace of Amiens. The treason 
of Clarence in joining AYarwick had never been for¬ 
gotten by Edward, although he had so greatly profited 


232 


EDWARD IV. 


by the double treachery of his unhappy brother in 
forsaking Warwick at his utmost need. A succession 
of disputes occurred, partly between Kichard and Cla¬ 
rence, and partly between Clarence and the king ; at 
length the latter caused his brother to be arraigned 
on a mixed charge of treason and necromancy. He 
was condemned to death, and privately executed by 
drowning, in a butt of Malmsey wine. Edward is 
said to have bitterly repented this crime on the instant 
of its perpetration, and to have exclaimed in the agonies 
of his remorse, “ Oh! unfortunate brother, for whose 
life no man would make suite.” 

During the latter part of Edward’s reign the art 
of printing was brought into England, and the press 
established at Westminster by Caxton. 

Having threatened war with Erance, Edward was 
led to make a truce for seven years by Louis XI., who 
promised his eldest son as the husband of Edward’s 
daughter; but the English king, finding himself de¬ 
ceived by the artful Louis, was so much disquieted, 
that, his vexation coming in aid of very irregular habits, 
brought on a disease which terminated his life on the 
9th of April, 1483, in the forty-first year of his age and 
the twenty-second of his reign. 


THE OUTLAW OE MOLD. 

The conquest of AVales was so far effected by Edward 
I., that from this period the eldest sons of the reign- 




THE OUTLAW OF MOLD. 


233 


ing monarch of England have borne the title of 
“ Prince of Wales hut the country was but nomin¬ 
ally subjected to English rule, and remained for a long 
series of years after in a state of the wildest anarchy. 

In the earliest years of Edward lY.’s reign, and 
while Margaret was still in arms for the rights of her 
husband Henry, there lived at a strong castle in Flint¬ 
shire a most daring marauder, named E-eginald Grrif- 
fith. This chief’s favourite amusement was to plunder 
the city of Chester, of whose inhabitants he made 
prey on all occasions; and to be a citizen of Chester 
sufficed to bring any man under the ban of the robber, 
who ashed no pretext for destroying him than the 
simple fact that he had got one into his hands. How 
it chanced that, in the year 1465, a larger concourse 
than ordinary had flocked to the fair of Mold with 
their merchandise ; and the opportunity was so tempt¬ 
ing a one for enriching himself at the cost of the “ good 
men of Chester,” that our Eeginald could not in con¬ 
science let it pass him unheeded. 

He proceeds then to the fair with a body of his 
followers, who soon contrived to bring about a quarrel, 
which in those days could by no means be worthily 
concluded without a fight, in which Eeginald’s men 
were victors. Had the matter ended there, it would 
have been a circumstance but little note-worthy, even 
for a much later period, but what followed was tragical 
indeed. Eobert Bryne, the Mayor of Chester, had 
appeared at this fair in his quality of a cloth merchant, 
and led on his townsmen in the battle with Eeginald; 


234 


THE OUTLAW OF MOLD. 


but the ferocious outlaw had an especial enmity against 
Bryue, who was now to pay a fearful price for his 
temerity in venturing so near his haunts. No sooner 
was the strife at an end, than Reginald hurried the 
mayor to his strong-hold, and at once hung him up to 
as staple fixed in the ceiling of the great hall, which 
staple is still to be seen in the position it then occu¬ 
pied ; that part of Reginald’s castle remaining to this 
day, a terrible memento of the lawless ferocity 
which distinguished Wales in the fifteenth and six¬ 
teenth centuries. 

It was not to be supposed that Bryne’s townsmen 
would sit quietly down with the injury thus infiicted 
on them in the person of their magistrate, and accord¬ 
ingly two hundred stout and well armed men left Ches¬ 
ter, and proceeded to the Tower (as the dwelling of 
Reginald was named), with the purpose of seizing him 
and his followers, and indicting summary punishment 
on all for the murder of their mayor. But the wily 
freebooter receiving notice of their approach, left his 
dwelling with such valuables as he cared to secure, and 
retired with his retainers to a neighbouring wood, 
where he remained watching the operations of his 
enemies, who rushed eagerly, as he had expected, 
within the walls. 

No sooner had all entered, than Reginald hastened 
from his ambush, surrounded the tower with his fol¬ 
lowers, and set it on fire ; the Chester men came rush¬ 
ing out, as he had anticipated, and were cut down by 
his people without mercy or remorse. Rew escaped 


THE OUTLAW or MOLD. 


235 


to describe tbe fate of their companions; and so inti¬ 
midated were the townsmen of Chester by this violence, 
that, instead of again making force and reducing the 
castle, they took no further measures for redress, nor 
dared longer to oppose themselves to the Outlaw of 
Mold. 

It will suffice to give you a clear idea of the spirit 
of the times at that period, when we add, from the 
same authority, that for these and other atrocities 
Reginald Meredith Griffith received a pardon from 
Lord Stanley, President of the Council, which was 
subsequently ratified under the great seal by Edward 
IV. 











23G 


EDWARD V. 


EDWAED Y. 

APRIL 9th, 1483, TO JUNE 2Gtii, 1483. 

■—♦— 

Edward was in liis thirteenth year when his father 
died, and was resident at Lndlow Castle, the seat of 
his uncle, Earl Eivers, who had the charge of his edu¬ 
cation. A jealousy had long subsisted between the 
members of the queen’s family and many of the old 
nobility; the Duke of Gloucester, Edward lY.’s bro¬ 
ther, was more especially inimical to the new nobles. 
This enmity now displayed itself in the apprehension 
of Eivers, Lord Grey, the queen’s second son by her 
first marriage, and others of the queen’s party, who 
were seized by the Dukes of Gloucester and Bucking¬ 
ham as they were escorting the king to London, and 
sent prisoners to Pomfret Castle, where they were 
soon afterwards beheaded. 

The young king was greatly distressed at being 
separated from his relatives, but was soothed by Glou¬ 
cester, who fell on his knees before him, with assur¬ 
ances of loyalty and affection. He was conducted to 
London, where Eichard exhibited him publicly to the 
citizens as their hereditary sovereign, and preparations 
were instantly made for his coronation. 



EDWARD T. 


237 


The Duke of Gloucester was now appointed Pro¬ 
tector of the Healm, and soon after accused Lord 
Hastings (who, from being his firm adherent, had be¬ 
come suspected of seeking a coalition with the queen’s 
party), of joining with Jane Shore, a favourite of the 
late king, to take away his life by arts of magic. On 
this charge the Lord Hastings was immediately put to 
death; and although there can be no doubt of his in¬ 
nocence as to practising magic arts, yet there is evi¬ 
dence that be was falling ofi* from the Protector’s in¬ 
terest ; and if, as many historians assert, be took part 
in tbe murder of Edward, son of Henry VI., bis death 
must be regarded as tbe retribution that sooner or 
later invariably follows crime. 

Alarmed by tbe destruction of ber relations, tbe 
queen bad gone into Sanctuary at Westminster with 
ber daughters, and Eicbard, Duke of York, her son. 
This child, now seven years old, she was afterwards 
persuaded to resign to tbe care of bis uncle, tbe Pro¬ 
tector ; but so reluctantly, that only tbe fear of being 
compelled to it by violence, overcame ber dislike to 
this painful step. 

Tbe king being lodged in tbe Tower preparatory to 
bis coronation, bis brother was sent thither to bear 
him company; and at this time it is that, from letters 
written by bis own hand to tbe authorities at York, 
tbe Protector appears to have first conceived tbe trea¬ 
sonable design of supplanting bis nephew, and occu¬ 
pying bis place. Deports were carefully spread that 
Edward IV. bad been privately married to Lady Elea- 


238 


EDWAED V. 


nor Botteler, daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury, 
previous to his marriage with Elizabeth Woodville, 
whose children were by consequence illegitimate. 
Eichard felt little doubt that his office of Protector 
would be taken from him on the young king’s coro¬ 
nation, and his adherent, the Duke of Buckingham, 
played so artful a part in his behalf, that the public 
authorities were led to offer the crown to Gloucester, 
who, after some apparent reluctance, permitted himself 
to be named king. 

Thus ends the short reign of Edward V., having 
lasted less than three months. His fate, and that of 
his brother, remains involved in mystery. Some re¬ 
ports declared them to have been drowned at sea. 
The more common one, which makes them to have 
been murdered in the Tower, seems to have received 
confirmation, from two bodies having been found, long 
after, in the place described as that of their burial, and 
these were then so firmly believed to be the remains of 
the Princes, that Charles II., the reigning sovereign, 
had them buried with much splendour in Westminster 
Abbey. It is greatly to be feared that the heavy guilt 
of this crime must continue to rest on the memory of 
Eichard: how little he profited by it, his short and 
troubled reign will presently show you. 


niCUAED III. 


239 


EICHAED III. 

1483 TO 1485. 


Richaed’s coronation took place on the 6th of July, 
1483, and within three months after his brother’s 
death. The early measures of his administration were 
calculated to secure him the popular favour, and 
several oppressive laws were repealed by his orders. 

Greatly attached to pomp and splendour, he made 
a progress through many parts of his kingdom with 
much state, and received in most places a most cordial 
reception; but, the betrayer of his brother’s trust, he 
soon found how little faith was to be kept with him¬ 
self, and was scarcely well seated on the throne before 
his accomplice, and late zealous partizan, the Duke of 
Buckingham, was detected in a conspiracy for dethron¬ 
ing him, and elevating Henry, Earl of Eichmond, in 
his place. 

Eichard gained a knowledge of this plot before it 
was ripe for execution, and Buckingham, being pro¬ 
claimed a traitor and compelled to take arms prema¬ 
turely, was instantly crushed; his followers deserted 
him, his most trusted servant, tempted by the large 
sum, betrayed him, and the sheriff of Shropshire put 
him instantly to death, without even the form of a trial. 



240 


RTCHAED III. 


A momentary repose followed this outbreak; but it 
was soon disturbed by the death of Eichard’s only 
child, Edward, Prince of Wales; an event at which, 
say the chroniclers, his parents were well nigh dis¬ 
tracted. The queen’s death followed closely on that 
of her son, and Eichard was proposing to enter into a 
second marriage with his own niece, Elizabeth, eldest 
daughter of Edward lY., when his purpose was frus¬ 
trated by the invasion of Eichmond, who landed at 
Milford Haven, with only 2000 followers, on the 7th 
of August, 1485. 

The slender force of Henry caused Eichard to treat 
his efforts with contempt, and he contented himself 
with sending two detachments to obstruct his march, 
and drive him back to his ships. But the commanders 
of these forces were unfaithful; one of them went over 
to Richmond; the second permitted him to pass un¬ 
molested, and so many other persons joined him with 
their trains, that he soon found himself at the head of 
a large army. 

Alarmed at this, and also suspecting the fidelity oi 
Lord Stanley, who had married the mother of Eich¬ 
mond, the king demanded that Stanley’s son should 
be left with him as a hostage for his father’s good 
conduct: he then gathered together a force large in 
appearance, but slightly attached to his cause at heart, 
and met the troops of Eichmond at Bosworth, near 
Leicester. 

The night before the battle was passed by Eichard 
in dreams so painful, that he was compelled to divulge 


KICnARD III. 


241 


them, lest the traces they had left on his face should 
be attributed to cowardice—a charge his previous 
known bravery would have rendered very unjust. At 
daybreak of the eventful day, he commanded the son 
of Lord Stanley to be beheaded, but the issue of the 
battle seemed to all so uncertain, that his execution 
was fortunately deferred. 

Lord Stanley’s brother held a position equally 
favourable for attacking the enemy, or deserting his 
own standard, and remained neutral through the early 
part of the battle, with his force of 3000 men; the 
king fought with the most desperate bravery, and 
when, on the fortune of the day being perceived to go 
against him, he was exhorted to retire, no persuasions 
could induce him to that step. It was now that Stan¬ 
ley justified the king’s suspicions by attacking him in 
the rear; from that moment all was lost. Bichard fell 
covered with wounds, and the battered crown being 
taken from his helmet by one of the Stanleys, was 
placed on the head of Henry by the other, who in¬ 
stantly saluted him Henry VII., amidst the acclama¬ 
tions of the field. 

The body of Eichard, stripped of its clothing, and 
disgracefully thrown on the back of a horse, was buried 
without ceremony in the Grey Briars’ Church, Leices¬ 
ter, August 28rd, 1485, in the thirty-fourth year of 
his age. 


E 




242 


THE riRST ENGLISH PKINTEU. 


THE FIEST ENGLISH PEINTEE. 

Stories of wrong and crime are but too abundant in 
our annals; let us turn to repose our thoughts on the 
useful progress of one who was a benefactor to his 
race—let us take a few passages from the life of the 
excellent William Caxton. 

This worthy man, and most valuable citizen, was a 
native of Kent: he was born in the latter part of 
Henry IV.’s reign; his parents were persons in the 
middle ranks of life, but his mother was su£B.ciently 
well-instructed herself to teach her son reading and 
writing, accomplishments by no means common among 
females of that day. At the age of fifteen he was 
bound apprentice to Mr. Eobert Large, mercer, who^ 
in 1430, served the ofiice of Lord Mayor, and with 
whom he continued until his death, in 1441, when the 
integrity with which he had fulfilled his duty is proved 
by the will of his employer, who left him 34 marks, 
and who speaks of him in terms of the utmost regard 
and affection. 

His conduct with Mr. Large had gained Caxton the 
confidence of the city merchants, and on the death of 
his master he was appointed superintendent of their 
affairs in Holland and the Low Countries. The 
Netherlands were at that period the great nursery of 
learning. Printing had been lately invented, and here 
Caxton first lent his intelligent and capacious mind to 
the advancement of this noble art. 


THE riEST ENGLISH PEINTEE. 


243 


The exact period at which he first began his impor¬ 
tant labours is not known; but soon after, being 
appointed to an official situation at the court of the 
Duchess of Burgundy, sister to King Edward IV., he 
printed his translation of “ A Collection of the Histo¬ 
ries of Troye, by Kaoul Le Eevre.” Both the transla¬ 
tion and the printing of this work were undertaken at 
the request of the Duchess, but were delayed above ten 
years by Caxton’s fears of his own inability to com¬ 
plete the task. He has himself left us the record of 
the time employed in this enterprise—for that age a 
very laborious one. 

“The translation,” he says, “was begun in Bruges, 
on the first of March, in the year 1468; continued in 
Grhent, and finished in Cologne the 19th of September, 
1471.” The version being completed, he then “deli¬ 
berated with himself to take the labour in hand of 
printing it, together with the ‘ Third Book of the De¬ 
struction of Troye,’ translated of late by John Lyd¬ 
gate, in English ritual.” Here is a most characteristic 
passage, which I take from the preface to this “ Ee- 
cuyell.” 

“ And afterwards, when I remembered my symple- 
ness—for in France was I never, and have learned 
mine English in the Wealds of Kent, where I doubt 
not is spoken as broad and rude English as is in any 
place within this realme of Englonde—and thus, when 
all these things came tofore me, I fell into despair of 
this book, and purposed no more to continue therein, 
and was fully in will to have left it, till on a time it 
fortuned.” 


214 THE riEST ENGLISH PEIKTEE. 

At the conclusion he remarks: “ Thus end I this 
book, and for as much as in writing of the same my 
pen is worn, mine hand weary, and mine eyes dimmed 
with overmuch looking on the white paper, and that 
age creepeth on me daily and enfeebleth all the body; 
and also because I have promised to divers gentlemen, 
and to my friends, to address to them as hastily as I 
might, this said book, therefore I have practised and 
learned, at my great charge, to ordain this said book in 
print, after the manner and form as ye may here see: 
and is not written with pen and ink as other books, to 
the end that every man may have them at once; for 
all the books of this story, named ‘ The Hecuyell of the 
Histories of Troye,’ thus imprinted as ye here see, 
was began in one day, and also ended in one day.” 

An explanation not unnecessary, when we remem¬ 
ber the recent introduction of this art; and if it be also 
remembered that its concealment involved those who 
practised it in Grermany, some years before, in the 
charge of magic; the marvellous accuracy, and above 
all, the minute resemhlance of many copies of the Bible, 
then compared, being attributed to the evil spirit, 
until the means by which what had been supposed 
manuscript performed hy magic, had been produced, 
were confessed and brought to light. 

The vast benefits we owe to the art introduced by 
Caxton need not now be insisted on. The works he 
himself printed are numerous; the beauty and clear¬ 
ness of his workmanship is universally admired by 
bibliographers; to the “ Book of Chivalry,” translated 


THE FIRST ENGLISn PRINTER 


245 


by himself, he affixed an epilogue of his own compo¬ 
sition, and did we possess no other means of judging 
his character beside those afforded by this perform¬ 
ance, we should yet be justified in giving him credit 
for the most generous love of literature, and whatever 
could amend and exalt his race, as well as for the most 
expansive benevolence and the highest moralit 3 ^ 

He died at the age of eighty, and universally la¬ 
mented, in the year 1492. 

















































246 


nENEY YJt. 


HOUSE OE TUDOK. 

HENEY VIT. 

1485 TO 1509. 

■■ - 

The claim of Henry YII. was by no means a legal 
one, and his sense of this truth may have contributed 
to increase those habits of suspicion which his early 
life was so well calculated to form. Henry was cold, 
cautious, and repulsive; but it is fair to recollect that 
he had been himself an object of jealousy and sus¬ 
picion from his childhood, Edward lY. having made 
many attempts to get him into his hands, and Eichard 
III. being no less his watchful and dangerous enemy. 

The first act of Henry’s reign was the seizure of 
Edward, Earl of Warwick, son of that Clarence whom 
Edward lY. had drowned in wine; this unhappy 
young man he kept prisoner in the Tower for many 
years, at the end of which he beheaded him for an 
attempt to escape. 

The - coronation of Henry was celebrated on the 
30th of October, 1485, and it was on that occasion 
that the Yeoman Guard was first established. He 
married Elizabeth, daughter of Edward lY., in the 



IIENET VII. 


247 


January following; but his hatred to the House of 
York was displayed by harshness towards the queen, 
whom he would not permit to be crowned until after 
the birth of his first son, Arthur. 

The second year of this reign was distinguished 
by the appearance of a youth, calling himself Earl of 
Warwick, but whose real name was Lambert Simnel. 
This Pretender was proclaimed in Ireland by the style 
of Edward VI., but Henry proved the imposture by 
exhibiting the real Earl of Warwick, whom he held 
prisoner. Meanwhile, the Duchess of Burgundy, 
sister of Edward lY., sent troops to the aid of Simnel, 
but these being defeated, the youth, who was but 
eleven years old, fell into Henry’s hands, together with 
Simons, a priest, by whom he had been instructed. 
The priest, having confessed his deceit, was condemned 
to perpetual imprisonment; but the boy was made 
scullion in the king’s kitchen, and afterwards became 
falconer to the king, an office of some credit. 

Disputes and negociations with Erance employed 
the succeeding years, and Henry resolving on a war, 
imposed the obnoxious tax called a Benevolence, 
which even Eichard III. had declared oppressive, and 
had abolished. He raised large sums in this way, 
and made vast preparations for the struggle, but was 
diverted from his design by Charles of Erance, to 
whom the avarice of Henry was known, and who 
bribed him to peace with the large sum of 630,000 
crowns. 

In 1493 a second claimant to the crown appeared. 


248 


HENRY TIL. 


in Perkin Warbeck, wbo professed to be tbe Duke of S 
Tork, second son of Edward lY. The Duchess, ' 
Margaret of Burgundy, was this young man’s prin- ^ 
cipal supporter, and Charles of Prance entertained 
him for some time in his court, but dismissed him 
with little ceremony on the conclusion of peace with 
Henry. ’ 

James of Scotland was so firmly convinced of his 
truth, that he gave him the Lady Catherine Gordon, 
a relation of his own, in marriage, and supplied him 
with an army, which was not, however, increased by j 
any English partizans. | 

Many attempts were made in Ireland and the 

southern English counties, more especially in So- | 

merset and Devon; to the capital of the last named 
county, Exeter, a regular siege was laid, and, wanting 
artillery to force the gate, the adventurer determined 
to reduce it by fire. He kindled accordingly an im¬ 
mense fire without the gate; but the citizens, having 
raised one still larger on their side, it became obvious 
that, though the gate might be destroyed, the passage 
would be none the more open to the besiegers, who 
could not make their way through the wall of fiame 
opposed to them, and who, consequently, raised the 
siege. 

The adventurer at length met Henry’s army near 
Taunton, but fied without a battle to the sanctuary of 
Beaulieu, in Hampshire ; whence, being persuaded to 
come forth by a promise of the king’s pardon, he 
was at first confined to the palace only, but attempt- 






HENRY VII. 


249 


ing an escape, was first made to stand in the stocks 
and confess liimself an impostor, and afterwards com¬ 
mitted to tlie Tower, his lady being received into 
Henry’s court as an attendant on tbe queen. 

In this fortress Perkin Warbeck found tbe Earl 
of Warwick, and in concert with him again attempted 
an escape, but they were soon retaken—Warbeck was 
hanged at Tyburn, and the Earl was beheaded three 
days after. 

The reign of Henry was not disturbed after this 
by internal commotions; he paid much attention to 
commerce, and many useful laws were made in re¬ 
ference to it; an active intercourse was maintained 
with the merchants of Spain, Italy, Elanders, and 
the Hanse Towns. But the king disgraced his cha¬ 
racter indelibly by permitting two infamous persons, 
named Empson and Dudley, to accuse the richest in¬ 
dividuals they could find of various offences, for the 
mere purpose of extorting money, which was gathered, 
by this infamous practice, in great quantities. 

The latter years of his reign are undistinguished, 
except by his eagerness in amassing riches; but he is 
said to have repented of this rapacity in his last ill¬ 
ness, and to have given large sums for the release of 
debtors and other suffering persons; he died at the 
Palace of Shene, which he rebuilt and named “ Bich- 
mond,” on the 22nd of April, 1509, in the fifty4hird 
year of his age, and the twenty-third of his reign. 

This monarch built the beautiful chapel annexed to 
Westminster Abbey, known by his name 


250 


THE ElilST STEP TO GEEATJNESS. 


THE EIEST STEP TO OEEATNESS, 

It is well known to the readers of history that the 
fortunes of Henry YIII.’s cardinal-minister took their 
rise in the preceding reign. The exact manner of 
their commencement is thus related by George Caven¬ 
dish, his gentleman usher, who says they are given 
from Wolsey’s own lips. 

“ It chanced at a certain time that the king (Henry 
VII.) had an urgent occasion to send an ambassador 
unto the Emperor Maximilian, who lay at that present 
in the Low Country of Elanders—not far from 
Calais. The Bishop of Winchester and Sir Thomas 
Lovell saw they had now a convenient occasion to 
prefer the king’s Chaplain, whose excellent wit, learn¬ 
ing, and eloquence, they highly commended to the 
king. The king giving ear unto them, and being a 
prince of excellent judgment and modesty, commanded 
them to bring his chaplain, wEom they so much com¬ 
mended, into his Grace’s presence. And to prove the 
wit of his chaplain, he fell in communication with him 
on great matters, and perceiving his wit to be very 
fine, thought him sufficient to be put in trust with 
this embassy, commanding him to prepare himself to 
his journey, and for his despatch to repair to his grace 
and the council, by means whereof he had due occasion . 
to repair from time to time into the king’s presence, 
wffio perceived him more and more to be a wise man 
and of a good intendment. And, having his despatch, 


THE riEST STEP TO GREATNESS. 


251 


he took his leave of the king at Hiclmiond, and so 
came to London about four of the clock, where the 
barge of Grravesend was ready to launch forth, both 
with a prosperous tide and wind; he entered the barge, 
and so passed forth. 

“His happy speed was such that he arrived at 
Gravesend within little more than three hours, where 
he tarried no longer than his horses were provided, 
and travelled so speedily, that he came to Dover the 
next morning, whereat the passengers were ready to 
sail to Calais: into the which passengers, without 
tarrying, he entered, and sailed forth with them, so 
that long before noon he arrived at Calais; then, find¬ 
ing horses in a readiness, he departed from thence 
without tarrying, and he made such hasty speed, that 
he was that night with the emperor. And he, having 
understanding of the coming of the King of England’s 
ambassador, would in no wise delay the time, but sent 
for him incontinent (for his affection to King Henry 
VII., was such, that he was glad when he had any oc¬ 
casion to shew him pleasure). 

“ The ambassador disclosed the whole sum of em¬ 
bassy unto the emperor, of whom he required speedy 
expedition, the which was granted him by the emperor; 
so that the next day he was clearly despatched, with 
all the king’s requests fully accomplished and granted. 
At which time he made no further delay, but took 
horses that night, and rode incontinent toward Calais 
again, conducted thither with such persons as the em¬ 
peror had appointed; and at the opening of the gates 


252 


THE FIRST STEP TO GREATNESS. 


of Calais he came thither, where the passengers were 
as ready to return into England as they were before 
at his journey foreward; insomuch that he arrived at 
Dover before noon, and finding horses in a readiness? 
came to the court at Eichmond that same night, 
where he, taking some rest until the morning, repaired 
to the king at his first coming out of his bedchamber 
to his closet at mass; whom (when he saw) the king 
checked him for that he was not on his journey! 

“ ‘ Sir,’ quoth he, ‘ if it may please your highness, 
I have already been with the Emperor, and despatched 
your afiairs, I trust, with your Grrace’s contentation ;* 
and with that he presented the king his letters of 
credence from the emperor. 

“ The king being in a great confuse and wonder of 
his hasty speed and return, with such furniture of all 
his proceedings, demanded of him, whether he en¬ 
countered not his pursuivant, the which he sent unto 
him, supposing him not to be scantly out of London 
wuth letters concerning a very necessary matter ne¬ 
glected in their consultation, the which the king much 
desired to have despatched among the other matters. 

‘‘ ‘ Tes forsooth,’ quoth he, ‘ I met with him yester¬ 
day, in my way back, but I had been so bold upon 
mine own discretion (perceiving that matter to be very 
necessary in that behalf), to despatch the same; and 
for as much as I have exceeded your G-race’s commis¬ 
sion, I most humbly require you Grace’s remission and 
pardon.’ 

The king, rejoicing inwardly not a little, said again 


THE FIEST STEP TO GUEzlTNESS. 


2oS 


—‘ We do not only pardon you thereof, but also give 
you our own princely thanks, both for your proceedings 
therein, and also for your good and speedy exploit’— 
commanding him for that time to take his rest, and to 
repair again to him after dinner, for the further rela¬ 
tion of his embassy. The king then went to mass, 
and after a convenient time went to dinner.” 

Such was the first step taken towards his future 
greatness by the afterwards renowned Cardinal Wol- 
sey. 


















251. 


^E^*EY Vlll. 


IIENEY YIII. 

1509 TO 1547. 

—^— 

Tdeee is so much interest attached to the reign we 
are now entering on, that we regret the narrowness ol 
our limits ; hut let us hope that the little you can 
learn here will lead you to the much that you will 
find elsewhere, of a period so important to our his¬ 
tory. 

Henry YIII. was in his eighteenth year when he 
ascended the throne, with a title which there was none 
to dispute. Possessing a singularly handsome person, 
he had also in his youth very excellent dispositions ; 
his Council, formed with the help of his grandmother, 
Margaret, Countess of Richmond, wa§ composed of ex¬ 
perienced statesmen; and his early measures were de¬ 
servedly popular. He patronised learning and the 
liberal arts ; being at peace with all nations, the trade 
of his kingdom was highly prosperous, and his father 
had left him a richly furnished treasury. 

A few weeks only had elapsed from his father’s 
death when Henry married Catharine of Arragon, 
daughter of Perdinand, King of Spain, and widow of 
Arthur, his eldest brother. He soon after joined his 




HENET VIII. 


255 


father-in-law and the Pope in a league against Louis 
XII. of P 'ranee, and some victories were gained both 
by sea and land ; but Henry, perceiving that his allies 
were making him a tool for their purposes, concluded 
a treaty of peace with Louis, and gave him his sister 
Mary in marriage. During this Drench war it was 
that the battle of Plodden Pield was fought: James IV. 
of Scotland, having invaded England, was slain, with 
great numbers of the Scottish nobility. 

It was about this time that Wolsey first entered the 
service of the king. The son of a butcher at Ipswich, 
he had nevertheless distinguished himself highly at 
college, had been promoted by Henry VII. (whose 
favour he had gained by extraordinary despatch and 
boldness in a negociation with the Emperor Max¬ 
imilian,) to the deanery of Lincoln, and the office of 
king’s almoner, presently becoming the favourite of 
the king. He was admitted a member of the Privy 
Council, became afterwards Bishop of Lincoln, and 
next Archbishop of York, with the administration of 
many other bishoprics and church livings. 

Disdaining to appear as second to the Archbishop 
of Canterbury, Wolsey made interest with the Pope 
for a Cardinal’s hat, which was sent him, together 
with the office of Papal Legate in England. Nor was 
this all; the Lord Chancellor Warham, being dismissed 
from his ofilce, Wolsey received that appointment also, 
and the whole power of the government was now vested 
in him alone. 

The Emperor Charles V., Erancis I. of Erance, and 


25G 


HENRY Vlir. 


many other sovereigns, paid court to the favourite, 
and he assumed a magnificence hitherto unknown to 
English habits; his many splendid residences were 
sumptuously furnished, and his household is counted 
at eight hundred persons, many being of high rank. 
The Duke of Buckingham, High Constable of Eng- 
gland, was the only person who refused him homage, 
and Wolsey, procuring his impeachment for treason, 
the duke was condemned and beheaded: he was the 
last who held the office of High Constable of England. 

Hoping to divert the king’s attention from his own 
arbitrary proceedings, Wolsey now engaged him in a 
controversy with Luther, and a book written by Henry 
against the Beformer procured him the title of De¬ 
fender of the faith; a title ever afterwards retained by 
our sovereigns. 

Henry had been married twenty years, and had a 
daughter, the Princess Mary, then twelve years old, 
when he resolved to divorce his wife, Catharine of Ar- 
ragon, and bade Wolsey apply to Borne for the pro¬ 
per authority ; but Catharine was aunt to the Emperor 
Charles Y., the Pope dared not displease that powerful 
sovereign, and delays occurred which Henry attributed 
to Wolsey. Inquiry once instituted, the favourite 
was convicted of sufficient crimes to give his master 
pretence for seizing his whole mass of treasure, his 
splendid palaces, and all his possessions. His fall was 
more sudden than his rise had been; commanded to 
London to take his trial for high treason, he fell ill by 
the way, and died at Leicester on the 29th of Novem- 


HENRY Vill, 


257 


ber, 1530, in the sixtieth year of his age. His last 
words, are too remarkable to be omitted—“ If I had 
served God, as diligently as I have served the king, 
he would not have given me over in my grey hairs.” 

The offices hitherto held by "W^olsey were now di¬ 
vided among many persons, the principal of whom 
were. Sir Thomas More, who became Chancellor; 
Cranmer, who was made Archbishop of Canterbury; 
and Cromwell, afterwards Earl of Essex, who alone of 
all Wolsey’s adherents had remained faithful to him 
in the hour of his disgrace. The king now command¬ 
ed Cranmer to pronounce the sentence of divorce 
between him and Catharine, who was thenceforward 
to be called Princess Dowager of Wales. Henry then 
married Anne Boleyn, whom he afterwards charged 
with misconduct; and, condemned to death, she was 
beheaded in consequence, with Lord Bochford, her bro¬ 
ther, and several other persons. May the 19th, 1536 
the king marrying Jane Seymour on the following day. 

Displeased by the Pope’s refusal of a divorce from 
his first wife, Henry avenged himself by denying the 
Pontiff’s supremacy, and added to his former titles 
that of Supreme Head of the Church. Sir Thomas 
More refused to acknowledge this title, and was pub¬ 
licly beheaded, to the consternation, not only of Eng¬ 
land, but of Borne also. He had himself been a vio¬ 
lent persecutor of the Lollards, but his death was one 
of those tyrannous and wicked actions by which the 
reign of the eighth Henry was, in its latter part, so 
fatally distinguished. 

s 


258 


HENET VIIT. 


Jane Seymour dying at tlie birth of her son, after¬ 
wards Edward YI., Henry married Anne of Cleves; 
but was so much displeased with this lady’s manners 
and appearance, that he resolved to punish Cromwell, 
the principal promoter of the marriage, although one 
of his best and most able ministers. He was accused 
of high treason by the Duke of Norfolk, and was 
executed, in spite of the efforts made by Cranmer to 
save him. 

Having procured from his parliament and clergy a 
sentence of divorce against Anne of Cleves, Henry 
next married Catharine Howard, niece of the Duke of 
Norfolk, who now ruled his councils in consort with 
Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, by whom a violent 
persecution was carried on against the Lutherans and 
others convicted of heresy. Many also suffered for 
political offences, real or supposed^ among others, the 
aged Countess of Salisbury, who was executed on pre¬ 
tence of a treasonable correspondence with her son. 
Cardinal Pole. 

The king was busily occupied in preparing for a 
war with Scotland, when the misconduct of his fifth 
queen, Catharine Howard, interrupted his purposes. 
This lady also he condemned to death, and she also 
was beheaded. 

The Scottish war proceeded with so much loss to 
Scotland, that James Y., its king, died of grief for his 
reverses, and left an infant daughter, Mary Stuart, 
whom Henry sought in marriage for his young son 
Edward; but Cardinal Beaton and the Catholic clergv 


HENRY VIII. 


259 


of Scotland opposed this, as likely to separate Scot¬ 
land from the church of Eome, and the young queen 
was married to Prancis of Erance. 

Henry took for his sixth wife a lady who was se¬ 
cretly attached to the protestant faith ; this was Ca¬ 
tharine Parr, widow of Lord Latimer, and Cranmer, 
now regaining a portion of his influence, procured the 
completion of a long promised translation of the 
scriptures into English. But Gardiner opposed this 
strongly, and the king himself was so reluctant to 
grant to laymen the important privilege of reading 
the scriptures, that he restricted it to gentlemen and 
merchants only. 

Cranmer had afterwards a narrow escape from 
committal to the Tower as a heretic, and the queen 
herself was in like danger, when Henry, who was 
heavily diseased, became suddenly much worse, and 
died on January the 28th, 1547. He left three chil¬ 
dren—Mary, daughter of Catharine of Arragon; 
Elizabeth, daughter of Anne Boleyn; and Edward, 
son of Jane Seymour, all of whom in turn succeeded 
him. This prince suppressed the monasteries and 
nunneries of England, founding many bishoprics and 
cathedral churches with a part of their revenues. He 
lived fifty-six years,' and reigned thirty-eight. 


2G0 


THE GEEALDINES. 


THE GERALDINES. 

Amois'G the many acts of severity practised against his 
nobles by Henry YIII., few are more remarkable than 
the terrible persecution suffered by Fitzgerald, Earl of 
Kildare, and his unhappy family. 

This nobleman, whose second wife, Lady Elizabeth 
Grey, was first-cousin to the king, was for some time 
favoured at court, and had been made Lord Deputy 
of Ireland; but the country being much disturbed, 
he was summoned to answer for this before the king 
in council, and proceeded to London, leaving his eldest 
son to administer the Irish affairs in his absence. 

But on reaching the court, Fitzgerald was com¬ 
mitted to the Tower; and his son, exasperated by a 
false report of his father’s being beheaded, broke into 
open rebellion. Succeeding for a short time, but 
afterwards reduced to difficulty, Thomas Fitzgerald 
received a promise of pardon; and confiding in this, 
he surrendered himself to Lord Leonard Grey, bro¬ 
ther of his stepmother, the Countess of Kildare. His 
five uncles, who had taken part with him in the re¬ 
bellion, also submitted, and the wFole six were con¬ 
veyed to London; but in spite of the remonstrances 
of Lord Leonard Grey, wFo declared his honour 
pledged for their safety, they were all hanged at Ty¬ 
burn. 

The Earl, worn down by these heavy sorrows, died 
in the Tower; an attainder was issued against him. 


THE GERALDINES. 


261 


and liis lands and goods declared forfeited to tlie 
crown. 

Not content with this cruel injustice, the king 
sought by all means to get into his power the young 
heir of this unhappy house, Gerald Fitzgerald, then 
not more than twelve years old; but his evil designs 
were frustrated by the zeal and affection of the mar¬ 
tyred earl’s foster brother, a priest named Leverous, 
to whom the boy had been confided for education. 

When this good man received notice that the bro¬ 
ther and uncles of his ward had been sent to Ens:- 
land, he became fearful for the young Gerald’s safety; 
the child was then lying ill of the small pox, but en¬ 
trusting the care of his nursling to no arm less zea¬ 
lous than his own, he wrapped him up warmly, and as 
carefully as he could, and carried him by night to the 
house of his own sister, where he was nursed in con¬ 
cealment till quite recovered. 

But, justly judging that the child would not be safe 
with any one known to be connected, however hum¬ 
bly, with his own family, the good priest removed him 
successively into the territories of two or three differ¬ 
ent Irish chieftains, by whom he was sheltered for 
nearly twelve months; after this he contrived to place 
the boy in the protection of his aunt, the Lady Elea¬ 
nor, widow of a chieftain named Macarthy Eeagh. 

Now this lady had been long sought in marriage by 
O’Donnel, Lord of Tyrconnel, whom she had hitherto 
refused; but hoping to secure an efScient protector 
for her nephew, she now consented to an immediate 


THE GEEALHINES. 


L'G2 

marriage, and taking Gerald with her to her new 
home in Donegal, she hoped he would here remain in 
safety. 

The devoted Leverous had refused to leave his 
charge even in care so seemingly unexceptionable as 
was this ; and the king, having ordered a large reward 
to he offered for the boy, O’Donnel was soon disco¬ 
vered by this watchful guardian to be meditating the 
baseness of delivering the orphan into Henry’s hands. 
Seeking the Lady Eleanor, Leverous unfolded this 
intended villany, and causing Gerald to assume a 
sufficient disguise, his aunt gave him what money she 
could gather in haste, and shipped him at once with 
his tutor and another old servant of his father’s in a 
vessel bound to St. Malo, in Brittany. The safety of 
the boy thus secured, she next sought her husband, 
and bidding him remember that her interest in this 
child had been the sole cause of her marriage with 
him, she declared that all future intercourse with a 
man who had so basely broken his promise, and that 
for so mercenary a motive, was impossible, and ga¬ 
thering her possessions together, she departed to her 
own country. 

Gerald meanwhile had been well received by the 
King of Erance; but Sir John "Wallop, the English 
ambassador, having demanded him in the name of 
King Henry, the Erench king took time to consider; 
and Leverous, fearing the result, again bore his charge 
from the threatening danger, and took refuge with him 
in Elanders. They had not been long here before it 


THE GERALDINES. 


263 


was perceived that their every step was dogged by an 
Irish servant of Sir John Wallop. The governor of 
Valenciennes befriending the orphan, threw this man 
into prison ; but he was liberated by the generous 
intercession of the youth whom he had sought to be¬ 
tray, and Q-erald reached the Emperor’s court at 
Brussels without farther molestation. 

He was here again demanded by the English am¬ 
bassador, but the Emperor excused himself on the 
plea that Gerald’s youth sufficiently attested his in¬ 
nocence, and sent him privately to the Bishop of 
Liege, with a pension of 100 crowns a month. Here 
he remained in comfort and safety for six months, 
when Cardinal Pole, his mother’s kinsman, invited 
him into Italy, and, allowing him an annuity, placed 
him first with the Bishop of Verona, and afterwards 
with the Duke of Mantua ; but would not admit him 
to his own presence until he had first acquired the 
Italian language, an extraordinary condition, the Car¬ 
dinal’s English parentage considered. 

This accomplished, however, the Cardinal sum¬ 
moned his young kinsman to Borne, and had him in¬ 
structed, under his own eye, in all the accomplish¬ 
ments then required to constitute the finished gentle¬ 
man. At the age of nineteen, his generous patron 
permitted him to choose between continuing his 
studies or travelling for adventures, as was then the 
practice. Gerald chose the latter, and falling in with 
some knights of Bhodes, he joined them in the fierce 
wars they were then waging against the Turks. 


2G4 


TflE GERALDIT^ES. 


Jieturning to Eome laden with rich booty proud 
was the Cardinal to hear of his exploits,” and proud 
also we may he sure was another Priest; for the faith¬ 
ful Leverous still clung to the fortunes of the child he 
had saved. Soon after, the Cardinal, having increased 
the pension of Gerald to £300 a year (a very large 
income in those days), permitted him to enter the 
service of Cosmo, Duke of Plorence, with whom he 
remained three years as Master of the horse. 

His exile at length terminated hy the death of 
Henry ; Gerald Fitzgerald proceeded to London, still 
accompanied by his attached Leverous. Appearing at 
King Edward’s court, he saw the daughter of Sir An¬ 
thony Brown at a ball, and afterwards marrying this 
lady, her family procured the restitution of a part of 
his estates from the king, who also knighted him. 
Under Mary he was restored to all the titles and ho¬ 
nours of bis house, all which, and the prosperity of 
his middle life, was witnessed by the happy Leverous, 
who died at a good old age under the roof of his 
grateful pupil, by whom he was ever honoured as a 
father. The earl himself lived till far into the reign 
of Elizabeth, closing his life neacefully in the year 
1585. 


EDWARD VI. 


265 


EDWAED YI. 

1547 TO 1553. 

- -■» — 

This young monarch succeeded his father, Henry 
yill., when only nine years old, his maternal uncle, 
the Duke of Somerset, being made Protector. This 
choice was most favourable to the protestants, and 
many catholics were deprived of their offices; among 
others, the persecuting Bishop Gardiner, who was 
committed to the Pleet Prison. 

The Scottish war still proceeded with great suc¬ 
cess on the English side ; but while the Protector 
was occupied with this, his brother, the Lord Admiral 
Seymour was disturbing the kingdom by his ambi¬ 
tion at home. This turbulent nobleman had married 
Catharine Parr, the late king’s widow, and at her 
death he ventured to address the Princess Elizabeth, 
then a very young girl, with proposals of marriage. 
Not content with this, he aspired to the protectorate 
also, or, as his enemies said, to the crown itself. . 
These things compelled his brother to permit his im¬ 
peachment, and being found guilty of treason, he was 
soon afterwards beheaded. 

The young king was carefully educated in the pro- 



m 


EEWAED VI 


testant laith, to whicli he displayed much attachment. 
The English Church was made to approach the re¬ 
formed churches of Grermany, both in doctrine and 
discipline; a liturgy was published in English, and 
acknowledging the tenets of the reformed faith only; 



the worship of saints and performance of mass was 
abolished. But it is to be regretted that the pro- 
testants now resorted n part to the severities they 
had suffered from the papists, and the reign of this 
young king had, also, its executions of those who died 
for what they thought the truth of the Catholic church. 






























































EDWAED YI. 


267 


The few years of Edward’s reign were disturbed by 
many popular commotions, which the Duke of Somer¬ 
set did his utmost to quiet by gentle means, and which 
his rival, the Earl of Warwick, very successfully com¬ 
bated by the strong arm of force. This latter noble¬ 
man, having accused the Protector of many political 
crimes, procured his dismissal from all his offices, and 
a year after his condemnation to death ; after which 
Warwick himself, who had. been created Duke of 
Northumberland, became President of the Council, 
and governor to the king. 

Edward VI., was a prince of studious habits, and 
of very gentle and amiable dispositions ; his letters to 
liis step-mother, Catharine Parr, and to his sisters, 
Mary and Elizabeth, but more especially to the latter, 
whom he was in the habit of calling “ his sweet sister 
Temperance,” display the best feeling; yet he was in¬ 
duced to sign letters patent, when he was near death, 
excluding both his sisters from the throne, and ap¬ 
pointing Lady Jane Grey, his second cousin, to suc¬ 
ceed him. This lady was granddaughter of that Mary 
whom Henry VIII. had given in marriage to Louis of 
France, and was a protestant; but Elizabeth was also 
a protestant, and if we believe that Edward w^as him¬ 
self firmly resolved on the exclusion of Mary, who was 
a zealous catholic, it may yet be fairly supposed that 
the ambition of Northumberland led to the choice of 
Lady Jane, and the rather, as he instantly solemnised 
a marriage between her and his own son, Lord Guild¬ 
ford Dudley. Be this as it may, Elizabeth as well as 


26S 


THE bishop’s PEATEE. 


Mary was excluded by tlie king’s will, wbicb named 
Lady Jane as bis successor. Edward died, after a 
somewbat lingering illness, on tbe 6tb of July, 1553, 
in tbe sixteenth year of bis age, and tbe seventh of 
bis reign. 

Tbe first intercourse held with Russia is recorded 
as having taken place in this reign. The first herald 
for Ireland was then also appointed, with tbe title 
of “ Ulster King at Arms.” Christ’s Hospital was 
founded by King Edward, and bis “ House of Bride¬ 
well was given for idle and riotous persons w'hose 
maintenance be provided for by a dole of £600 a year.” 


THE BISHOP’S PRATER. 

The young life of our sixth Edward was rapidly draw¬ 
ing towards its early close; tbe festivals of Christmas, 
held after tbe rude and boisterous fashion of bis day, 
bad shaken bis already feeble frame; and tbe learned 
but eccentric Jerome Carden, a physician of high re¬ 
pute, was bending with anxious brow over tbe youth¬ 
ful sufferer, whom be saw that all bis skill might not 
avail to save. 

“ What is that you are whispering about our good 
Master Latimer?” inquired tbe declining prince of a 
favourite attendant, when tbe physician, who did not 
prescribe for bis royal patient—having refused this re- 







THE bishop’s prateb. *209 

sponsibilitj, but who loved him, and has left us many 
indications of his character, and who, besides, had 
drawn his horoscope, an office of no small moment in 
those times—had departed. 

“ AVhat is that you are saying about Master Lati¬ 
mer?” inquired the drooping Edward. 

“ Please it your highness, I was but speaking of a 
sermon, wLerein the good man hath told us a moving 
tale of a chance that befel him in the days of our dead 
lord, your majesty’s gracious father.” 

Being commanded to repeat what he had heard, the 
attendant related as follows:— 

“ It so chanced that Master Latimer one day going 
with Master Bilney, his friend, to visit the prisoners 
in the Tower of Cambridge, was aware of a woman 
.. ■ among the other prisoners, which woman was accused 
that she had murdered her own child, which act she 
plainly and stedfastly denied; whereby it gave these 
good men occasion to search for the matter, and so 
they found that her husband loved her not, and there¬ 
fore sought all means he could to put her away. The 
matter was thus:—A child of hers had been sick a 
whole year, and at length died in harvest time, as it 
were in consumption, which, when it was gone, she 
went to have her neighbours to help her to the burial; 
but all were at the harvest abroad, whereby she was 
enforced, with heaviness of heart, alone to prepare the 
child to the burial. Her husband coming home and 
not loving her, accused her of murdering the child. 
This was the cause of her evil plight, and Master La- 



270 


THE bishop’s prater. 


timer, by earnest inquisition of conscience, thought 
the woman not guilty. 

“Then immediately after was he called to preach 
before King Henry VIII., at Windsor, where, after his 
sermon, the king’s majesty sent for him, and talked 
with him familiarly. At which time. Master Latimer, 
finding opportunity, kneeled down, opened the whole 
matter to the king, and made his prayer for her life, 
which the king most graciously granted, and gave him 
her pardon before he should set off homeward. 

“Now Master Latimer would not tell her of the 
pardon, but laboured to have her confess the truth of 
that matter. At length the time came that she should 
suffer, and Master Latimer came as he was wont to 
instruct her, unto whom she made great lamentations 
and moan, but could in no wise be shaken from her 
stedfastness, whereby she maintained that by no ac¬ 
tion or neglect had she shortened the days of her 
child. So thus they travelled with this woman, till 
they had brought her to a good trade (a better mode 
of thinking than she had previously held as to reli¬ 
gious matters), and when they had done that, they 
at length showed her the king’s pardon, and let her go.” 

It is lamentable to record that this good man 
perished at the stake, in the unhappy reign succeed¬ 
ing:—exhorting his fellow sufferer, the martyr Eid- 
ley, with his dying breath, in these touching words :— 

“ Be of good comfort, brother, and play the man; 
for we shall this day light such a candle in England, 
as I trust, by God’s grace, shall never be put out.” 


MAET I. 


271 


EEIGN OF MAEY I. 

1553 TO 1558. 

—o- 

The period immediately following Edward’s death 
might properly be called an interregnum, for though 
Jane Grey was proclaimed queen by Northumberland, 
and held the title for twelve days, yet she was not 
queen, since the will of Henry VIII. had determined 
that his daughters should succeed in the event of 
Edward having no children; thus leaving his son no 
right to dispose of the crown as he did. 

Historians declare Lady Jane to have accepted the 
crown only after much entreaty, but her own account^ 
given in a letter to Mary, says nothing of refusal, but 
only of her surprise and perfect innocence of all con¬ 
triving to obtain it. She even admits that she felt re¬ 
luctant to part with any share of the power thus un¬ 
expectedly gained to her husband, and the first con¬ 
sequence of her taking the rightful property of another, 
w^as the destruction of her domestic happiness; her 
husband and his mother being both irritated against 
her, by her own showing. This young lady was after¬ 
wards beheaded with her husband, and her piety, 
learning, and general excellence, caused her fate to 




272 


MART I. 


be lamented by all: she was but eighteen at her 
death. 

The memory of Maiy is loaded with such frightful 
crimes, that justice compels us to show how far her 
circumstances led to these. Brought up by her mother 
whom she respected as well as loved, but whom she 
saw suffering from the ascendancy of Anne Boleyn and 
the prevalence of Protestant opinions, her dread of the 
reformed religion, and her confessed hatred of her 
sister Elizabeth, had grown with her from childhood. 
On her accession, it must be conceded to her in fair¬ 
ness that she believed herself right in her attempts to 
restore the Papal supremacy; but the cruelty with 
which she pursued this purpose was so dark and re¬ 
lentless, that I would not willingly enter on its revolt¬ 
ing details. It must suffice you for the present to 
know that the excellent Cranmer, the zealous and 
indefatigable bishops Latimer and Bidley, the vener¬ 
able Hooper, and many others, were condemned to the 
stake, and were burnt in Smithfield accordingly. The 
Duke of Northumberland, and many of his associates, 
were also beheaded for their treason in the matter of 
Lady Jane Grey. 

Some time after her accession, the queen married 
Philip of Spain, son of the Emperor Charles V., to 
whom a late authority attributes many of the cruel¬ 
ties practised in Mary’s name. The match was not 
popular, and many insurrections ensued, the principal 
one being headed by Sir Thomas Wyatt, who had 
been the first to proclaim Mary, and that even while 


MART I. 


273 


Jane was called queen. Fearing the evils of Catholic 
predominance, he now took arms against her, but 
being defeated by the Earl of Pembroke, formerly one 
of Mary’s most forward opponents, he was executed; 
and it was on this occasion that the sentence against 
Lady Jane, her husband, and father, were also put 
into execution. 

The Princess Elizabeth was instantly afterwards 
committed to the Tower, and had a narrow escape 
from condemnation, Philip himself being, as is some¬ 
times said, the principal cause of her deliverance. She 
was, however, long imprisoned; was looked on with 
suspicion by Mary ever after, and on more than one 
occasion was in great danger of her life. 

Two hundred and eighty-five of her fellow creatures 
were burnt to death by this unhappy queen, besides a 
large number who were whipped, tortured in various 
ways, and perished in prison or by famine while hiding. 
The whole reign is a tale of horror, the queen herself 
becoming, long before its close, one of the most un¬ 
happy inhabitants of the land she so bitterly scourged. 
Greatly attached to her husband, she was treated by 
him with the most mortifying coldness. In the hope 
of gratifying him, she entered into a war with France, 
which resulted in the most disgraceful losses; among 
others, in that of Calais, which England had possessed 
since its conquest by Edv/ard III. 

Her last days were also grievously embittered by 
the consciousness she felt of being hated by her peo¬ 
ple, and by her distrust of all around her; a more 

T 




274 THE PROTESTANTS OF MART’S DAT. 

gloomy picture than that of her death bed cannot well 
be imagined. She died, after much and painful ill¬ 
ness, on the 17th of November, 1558, in the forty- 
third year of her age, and the fifth of her reign. 


THE PEOTESTANTS OF MAEY’S DAY. 

Among the many English hearts whom the accession 
of Mary filled with terror and dismay, none beat more 
anxiously than did that of Katherine, in her own right 
Earoness Willoughby de Eresby, widow of Charles 
Brandon, Duke of Suffolk, and lately become the wife 
of Eichard Bertie, a person of liberal education, but 
of very obscure birth, and a Protestant. 

This lady was the daughter of Lord Willoughby; 
and her mother, a Spanish lady of high birth, had 
been maid of honour to Catharine of Arragon. But 
in the preceding reign she had made herself an object 
of hatred to Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, by an 
open display of her abhorrence for his character, and 
her contempt for his religion. She now felt all the 
imprudence of this proceeding; she knew well that 
her high birth and splendid connections would be al¬ 
together insufficient to shield her from the vengeance 
of the remorseless prelate, and already beheld herself 
among the earliest victims of the misguided Mary’s 
sanguinary decrees. 

Two chances of escape remained to her—she must 



THE PBOTESTAJ^TS OE MART’s DAY. 275 

renounce her religion, or resign herself to a voluntary 
banishment from her native land, and it was the last 
that she resolved on. But those days were not as 
ours ; it was not at her own good pleasure and in open 
day that the duchess might depart from the land 
where every hour threatened her with imprisonment, 
torture, and death; but in silence and secrecy, cower¬ 
ing beneath the shades of night, and in dread of dis¬ 
covery at every step, was she compelled to steal from 
her home, as though hurrying from the punishment of 
crime. 

A licence for himself to leave England had already 
been procured by Eichard Bertie, on the pretext of 
business demanding his presence in Elanders, and 
when news of his safe arrival on a foreign shore 
reached the duchess, she stole from her house with 
her little daughter, not yet two years old, in her arms; 
and taking boat on the Thames, was thus conveyed to 
a port in Kent, where she embarked. 

But when already within sight of a less dangerous 
strand, the terrified lady was driven back by stress of 
weather, and after much peril compelled to put in to 
an English port. She fortunately found means to re¬ 
embark some few days after, and at length rejoined 
her husband, at Santon, in the Duchy of Cleves. 

And here the harassed couple began to breathe, 
but no long time elapsed before they were again com¬ 
pelled to fly, by a discovery that the Bishop of Arras 
was on the point of sending them back to the tender 
mercies of his brother prelate, the Bishop of Win- 


/ 


276 THE PE0TESTA2.’TS OE MARX’S DAT. 

Chester. It was on a dark October night that they 
were again driven forth; Bertie loaded with what 
valuables they could snatch up in their hurried es¬ 
cape, and the duchess carrying her child. Bour miles 
through mud and rain did the desolate wanderers pro¬ 
ceed on foot, the duchess in daily expectation of her 
confinement, and with difficulty dragging herself along. 

At length they gained the town of Wesel, but their 
appearance 'was so wild and wretched, that the inn¬ 
keepers refused to receive them. Overwhelmed by 
this last misfortune, the suffering lady sank exhausted; 
dragging her into a church porch, her husband then 
left her to make further efforts for procuring shelter; 
and here, in all the misery and desolation that sur¬ 
rounded her, did the unhappy duchess giver birth to a 
son—afterwards that Lord Willoughby de Eresby, 
whose name you will see making a brilliant figure in 
the reign of Elizabeth, from whom he wrung a reluc¬ 
tant and ungracious recognition of his rights. 

Bertie was, meanwhile, seeking anxiously through 
the streets for the abode of a Walloon minister, to 
whom the duchess had shown kindness in England; 
and, hearing two students exchange a few words in 
Latin, he approached, and accosting them in that 
language received a direction to the house he sought. 
Accompanied by the worthy pastor and his wife, 
Bertie now returned to his unfortunate lady, who was 
instantly conveyed with her infant to the parsonage, 
where all that the most grateful affection could devise 
was done for her comfort and restoration. Here she 


THE PEOTESTANTS OF MARl’s DAT. 277 

quickly recovered ker health, and for some time re¬ 
mained in peace; a fresh alarm then obliged her hus¬ 
band to remove her into the dominions of the Palgrave, 
and the money and jewels they had brought with them 
being, after some time, exhausted, they were reduced 
to the most bitter distress. 

At this crisis a friend of the duchess made her 
situation known to the King of Poland, who invited 
her at once to his protection; the exiled family 
reached Poland through many dangers, and after 
many very narrow escapes. But once there, the 
accomplishments of Bertie soon gained the favour of 
the sovereign; a large domain was assigned to them 
by their princely protector, and here they lived ir 
great honour and tranquillity, till the accession of 
Elizabeth permitted their return to their native land. 










278 


ELTZABEia, 


REIGN OF ELIZABETH. 

1558 TO 1603. 

—♦— 


This princess was at Hatfield, a prisoner in tlie care 
of Sir Thomas Pope, when she succeeded to the crown 
by the death of her sister. She was received in Lon¬ 
don with great joy, and on entering the Tower is said 
to have knelt and returned thanks to Grod for the 
great change that had taken place in her circum¬ 
stances since she had last entered that building, 
which she did as a prisoner. 

Desirous of allaying those fears that the Catholics 
felt on her accession, she permitted her council to be 
composed of eleven papist, and eight protestant nobles. 
Slie chose Sir Nicholas Bacon, Sir "William Cecil 
(afterwards Lord Burleigh), and other wise statesmen, 
for her ministers, and began her reign with a prudence 
that promised fair to steer her safely through the 
difficulties surrounding a protestant prince, in those 
days of Popish Supremacy. 

Her hand was sought in marriage by Eric, Crown 
Prince, and afterwards King of Sweden; by the Arch¬ 
duke of Austria, and many other princes: more es¬ 
pecially by Philip, husband of her late sister. But 
slie declined the offers of all, though with a courtesy 



ELIZABETH. 


279 


and prudence that prevented her disappointed suitors 
from becoming her enemies. 

She was at that moment occupied by a subject of 
much greater importance than her marriage—this was 
the restoration of the Reformed Heligion to the state 
in which her brother had left it; an object she had 
greatly at heart, but that she saw must be pursued 
cautiously, lest the Pope, treating her as for other 
causes he had treated John, should place her kingdom 
under an interdict. 

Of the means by which she attained this end we 
cannot here speak; it must suffice to say that she 
gained it. But it is to be lamented that this princess, 
who had suffered in her own person from the tyranny 
of Mary (who had compelled her to go to mass), should 
now inflict on Catholics the necessity of attending the 
reformed service, which she did on the penalty of a 
flne of twelve-pence for each refusal. 

The repose of Elizabeth was soon disturbed by the 
claims of Mary, Queen of Scotland, whom the Pope 
and the Dukes of Guise, who were then governing 
Prance, incited to assume the arms of England, and 
declare herself heir to the English crown; many dis¬ 
putes succeeded, but the Scottish queen, taking refuge 
with Elizabeth from the resentment of her own sub¬ 
jects, was flrst lodged at Lord Scrope’s Castle of Bol¬ 
ton, in Cumberland, and afterwards settled at the 
splendid mansion of Tutbury, and treated by Elizabeth 
with great kindness, but eventually she was held a 
close prisoner. 


280 


ELIZABETH 


It was during this reign that the frightful massacre 
of St. Bartholomew took place in Paris, and though 
this event belongs to Prench History, it is named 
here, because Elizabeth, as the acknowledged Protec¬ 
tor of Protestantism, sent a warm remonstrance to its 
promoters, Charles IX. and his mother, Catharine de 
Medicis, and received into the shelter of her kingdom 
many thousands of the Erench protestants, then called 
Huguenots, who had escaped from this and other 
slaughters. 

The Erench and Spanish courts had remonstrated 
against the detention of the Scottish queen, but with¬ 
out effect; and that princess being charged with a 
participation in the numerous plots detected among 
the papists during her long imprisonment, which 
lasted nineteen years, was at length condemned to 
death, and beheaded at Eotheringay Castle on the 
7th of Eebruary, 1587. Elizabeth either felt or pre¬ 
tended great reluctance to sign the warrant for her 
death; but the stain of its permission can never be 
effaced from her memory. 

The year 1588 is signalized by the glorious victory 
obtained over Spain, in the total destruction of her 
fleet called the Invincible Armada. The fame of the 
English Navy rose to a high pitch in this reign, and 
the names of Elizabeth’s great commanders, Drake, 
Howard, Hawkins, and Erobisher, are among the 
brightest ornaments of our Naval History. 

A disposition to favouritism displayed itself in the 
latter years of Elizabeth’s reign: the Earls of Leices- 


ELIZABETH. 


281 


ter and Essex being more particularly distinguisbed 
by her. 

Under Leicesterhs guidance the queen visited the 
seats of her nobility, and her reception at Leicester’s 
own castle, at Kenilworth, was most magnificent, the 
pleasaunce and gardens being gaily decorated with 
covered alcoves and gorgeous banners; the fete cost, it 
is said, a sum equal in our day to a quarter of a million 



The death of her minister, the great Lord Burleigh, 
left the field without an opposer to Essex, who was 
made Viceroy of Ireland. But his want of prudence 
rather increasing than quelling a rebellion that had 
arisen in that island, he returned in disgrace, and 
soon after himself broke into open rebellion. He was 
for this condemned to death; but the queen had for¬ 
merly given him a ring, with the promise, that if, in 
any future difficulty, he should send her that token. 















282 


ELIZABETH. 


she would grant him whatever request he might make 
bj it. This appeal the queen waited and hoped for 
during some time, but it did not appear, and at length 
the order was given for his execution. 

Among the remarkable men of this reign we must 
not omit to mention the great and good Sir Walter 
Raleigh, whose first introduction to the notice of 



Elizabeth—his casting a rich mantle on her path, 
when the royal foot was hesitating before the un¬ 
cleanliness of the way, and thus enabling his dainty 
mistress to pass the obstacle with shoe unsoiled—has 
been frequently related. This, however, was but the 
prelude to more serious services, and it is to be re- 







ELIZABETH 


283 


gretted that the close of this distinguished man’s 
career, in the following reign, should so ill have ac¬ 
corded with the promise of its commencement. 

Elizabeth was now old; great as a queen, she was 
not amiable as a woman, and seems to have had few 
who were really attached to her after the death of Bur¬ 
leigh. The execution of Essex took place in the year 
1600, and it was not until long after that the Countess 
of Northampton acknowledged having received the 
ring before mentioned from that unfortunate noble¬ 
man, for the purpose of transmitting it to the queen; 
this fact she had concealed until, being on her death¬ 
bed, she confessed her guilt, and implored the queen’s 
pardon, who, however, refused it to her with bitter 
reproaches. 















































284 


THE EED HAND OE LLANVEOTHEN. 


Elizabeth is said to have constantly grieved over 
this unhappy occurrence—her health failed rapidly, 
and on the 24th of March, 1G03, she expired, after 
having rather indicated than appointed James VI., 
of Scotland, as her successor. 

It was in this reign that our pride and glory, 
Shakespeare, flourished. Many of our young readers 
will already have made a certain acquaintance with 
his works, and his name will be familiar to all. The 
engraving on the preceding page represents the house 
in which he was born; it is situate at Stratford-on- 
Avon, in the county of "Warwick. 


THE EED HAND OE LLANVEOTHEN. 

In the story of the Outlaw of Mold we have seen the 
state of Wales at that period; we have in the narration 
that follows some information of the condition of that 
country at a later period, we extract it from Sir John 
AVynne’s “History of the Gwydir Eamily,” and this 
is the description he gives of things down to his ow-n 
day, written about 1600. 

“ Questioning with my uncle,” says Sir John, “ what 
should move him to demolish an old church which 
stood in a great thicket, and build it in a plain, stronger 
and greater than it was before, his answ^er was he had 
good reason for the same, because the country was 
wild, and he might be oppressed by his enemies on the 
sudden in that woody country; it therefore stood him 
in a policy to have divers places of retreat. Certain it 



THE EED HAND OE LLANVROTHEN. 


285 


was that he durst not go to church on a Sunday, from 
his house of Penanmaur, hut he must leave the same 
guarded with men, and have the doors sure barred and 
bolted, and a watchman to stand at the Garreg Maur 
during service. The Garreg Maur was a rock, whence 
he might see both the church and the house, and raise 
the cry if the house was assaulted. He durst not, 
although he were guarded with twenty tall archers, 
make known when he w'ent to church or elsewhere, or 
go or come the same way through the woods and nar¬ 
row places, lest he should he way-laid: this w^as in the 
beginning of his time. 

Put to our story, in relating which we shall use our 
author’s own words so far as possible :—“ Howel ah 
Pice ab Howel Vaughan did arrange a plan or scheme 
against Jevan ab Pobert ab Meredith, and sent a bro¬ 
ther of his to lodge overnight at his house of Keselgy- 
farch, to understand which way Jevan meant to go 
next day, on his progress to Llanvihangel y Pennant. 
This being understood, the spy slips away, and tells 
Howel where he shall lay in wait for Jevan. How had 
Howel provided a butcher that should have murdered 
Jevan, and this was the butcher’s charge—to come be¬ 
hind the tallest man in company, for the butcher knew 
not Jevan, and knock him down. Por How^el said— 

‘ Thou shalt not discern him by his stature, for he will 
make way before him, but undertake him not until 
thou seest all in a medly, and every man fighting. 
And there is a foster-brother of his, one Pobin ab Inko, 
a little fellow, that useth to watch him behind; take 


286 THE llEl) HAND OE LLA^^VHOTHEN. 

heed of him, for, be the encounter never so hot, his 
eye is ever on his foster-brother.’ ” (There is comfort 
in reposing one’s thoughts on one redeeming trait in 
these fearful scenes of treason and slaughter.) “ Jevan 
ab Robert went accordingly with his ordinary company 
towards Llanvihangel. You are to understand that, 
in those days, and in that wild world, no man went 
abroad but in sort, and so armed as if he went to the 
field to encounter bis enemies. 

“ Now Jevan’s wife was sister to Howel (the pro¬ 
posed murderer!) and she went a mile or thereabout 
with her husband and the company, talking to them, 
and so parted: and in her way homewards she met 
her brother a horseback, with a great company, riding 
after her husband as fast as they could. On this she 
cried out upon her brother, and desired him, for the 
love of God, to do no harm to her husband, that meant 
him no harm ; and withal steps to his horse, meaniug 
to have caught him by the bridle, which he seeiug, 
turned his horse about. She then caught the horse 
by the tail, hanging upon him so long, and crying 
upon her brother, that, in the end, he drew out his 
short sword and struck at her arm, which she per¬ 
ceiving, w'as fain to let slip her hold, and running be¬ 
fore him to a narrow passage whereby he must pass 
through a brook, where there was a foot-bridge, near 
the ford: she then steps to the foot-bridge, and takes 
the hand-rail thereof, and with the same lets fly at 
her brother, and if he had not avoided the blow, she had 
struck him down from his horse. 


f 



“ She then steps to the footbridge, and takes the hand-rail thereof, 
and with the same lets fly at her brother.’^ 


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THE BED HAND OF LLANVEOTHEN. 


287 


“ Within a while Howel overtook Jevan, who turned 
head upon him, though greatly overmatched. Many 
were knocked down on either side. In the end, when 
that should be performed which they came for, the 
murdering butcher, watching opportunity, thrust him¬ 
self among Jevan’s people behind, and making a blow 
at him, was prevented by Bobin ab Inko, and knocked 
down—Grod bringing on his head the destruction that 
he meant for another, which Howel perceiving, cried 
to his people, ‘ Let us away and begone, for I had given 
charge that Bobin ab Inko should have been better 
looked unto ’ And so that hichering brake, with the 
hurt of many and the death of that one man. 

“ It fortuned anon after, that the parson of Llan- 
vrothen took a child of Jevan’s to foster, which sore 
grieved Howel’s wife, her husband having more land 
in the parish than Jevan had, in revenge whereof she 
plotted the death of the said parson in this manner:— 
She sent a woman to ask lodging of the parson, who 
used not to deny any ; the woman being in bed, after 
midnight began to strike and to rave, whereupon the 
parson, thinking that she had been distracted, made 
towards her, and his household also. Then she said 
that he would have murdered her, and so got out of 
doors, threatening revenge to the parson. This wo¬ 
man had for her brethren three notable rogues of the 
accursed crew, tit for any mischief, being followers of 
Howel; these three men watched the parson, as he 
went to look to his cattle in a place called Gago yr 
Llechwin, now the tenement of mine (says Sir John) 


288 


THE EED HAND OE LLANVEOTHEN. 


and there murdered him. The murderers then fled 
to the friends or kin of Howel or his wife. 

“ It was the manner in those days that the mur¬ 
derer only—he who gave the death wound—should fly, 
and he was called in "Wales a Llawrudd, or Eed Hand, 
because he had blooded his hand—the accessories and 
abettors were never hearkened after !” 

It w^as long before Jevan could catch the murderers, 
and when he did succeed in finding two of them, he 
knew that a public execution would bring the ofiender’s 
friends to buy their lives at five pounds a man, which 
the law did not permit to be refused except in cases 
of treason ! And this custom continued till the 27th 
of Henry YII.’s reign—so Jevan commanded one of 
his men to strike off their heads, “ which the fellow 
doing faintly, the murderer told him that if he had his 
neck under his sword he would make better work: 
whereupon Jevan, stepping up in a rage, struck off 
their heads himself. 

“ One murderer still remained, and this one Jevan 
left to chance: but on his return home, talking care¬ 
lessly with his men, an arrow suddenly flew by him 
from a thicket, the party halted and shot altogether 
towards the spot whence the arrow came; the man 
who had attacked Jevan was thus slain, and he proved 
to be the very ‘ Eed Hand ’ they were in search of. 
So Grod revenged that wicked murder by the death of 
all three brethren. 

“ Some time after Jevan went to Caernarvon wnth 
most of his men, leaving in the house his wife and the 


THE BED HAND OF LLAHVROTHEN. 289 

servants only, with some desperate ‘ Eed Hands* who 
had sought his protection, ‘ as the manner then was.* 
His old enemy, Howel, thought to revenge the death 
of the three murderers by seizing these criminals—all 
outlawed for murder—and hanging them in Caernar¬ 
von. For this purpose he got the help of David ah 
Jenkin, a freebooter of great fame, and kinsman of his 
own; these worthy confederates gained the house un¬ 
observed, but were vigorously resisted by the inmates, 
who bestirred themselves handsomely. It fortuned, 
moreover, that Jevan’s wife—the same who had hurled 
the bridge-rail at her brother’s head—stood by the 
fireside, looking on her maid boiling of wort to make 
metheglyn, and this seething liquor she bestowed so 
liberally among the assailants, that they were forced 
back, and at length compelled to depart; the freebooter 
David advising Howel to take Jevan for his friend; 
for, said he, ‘ I will not be one with you to assault his 
house when he is at home, seeing I find such hot re¬ 
sistance in his absence.’ ” A remark whence we may 
infer that the vice of punning had crept in even among 
these gentle-dealing Cambrians. 

This advice was not followed ; “ daily bickerings, too 
long to write, passed between so near and hatelul 
neighbours. In the end, the plague, which commonly 
followeth war and desolation, after the Earl of Pem¬ 
broke’s expedition, took away Jevan ab Eobert in the 
flower of his age, being thirty-one years old—whose 
death ended the strife of these houses.’* 


u 



290 


JAMES I. 


THE HOUSE OE STUAET 

JAMES I. 

1G03 TO 1G25. 


This prince was tlie great grandson of Margaret 
eldest sister of Henry YIII.; lie ascended the throne 
without any competitor, and was heartily welcomed 
by the people, whom, however, he soon disgusted by 
an unsparing distribution of titles, honours, and 
estates, among his Scottish adlierents. 

The foreign policy of Elizabeth was so far pursued 
by James, that he took part with Henry lY., of Erance, 
for the support of the protestant interest against 
Spain. But while he retained some few of the late 
queen’s ministers, he dismissed others with manifest 
tokens of displeasure; among the rest Sir Walter 
Ealeigh, whom he soon afterwards brought to trial 
on a charge of conspiring, with the Lords Cobham, 
Grrey, and others, to deprive him of his crown, and 
to confer it on the Lady Arabella Stuart, who was 
also descended from Margaret Tudor, and who stood 
in tlie same degree of relationship to that princess as 
himself. The accused in this matter were condemned 


JAMES I. 


291 


on sliglit evidence; three persons were executed, 
Grey and Cobliam were reprieved, after liaviiig laid 
their heads on the block, and Sir Walter was im¬ 
prisoned in the Tower for many years. 

Soon after this, a conference was held at Hampton 
Court for the settlement of religious differences, and 
from this arose the great benefit of our present 
translation of the Bible. 

King James made many efforts to extend the pre¬ 
rogatives of the crown beyond what an English par¬ 
liament thought proper to grant; but the dissensions 
on these points were interrupted by the discovery of 
that frightful conspiracy called the Gunpowder Plot. 
This w'as a plan by a few of the Catholic party to 
destroy the king, the royal family, and both Houses of 
Parliament, by a mine beneath the House of Lords, 
which was to be exploded at the moment when all 
were therein assembled to hear the king’s speech from 
the throne. 

The 5th of November was the day fixed on for the 
completion of this fearful catastrophe, and a conspira¬ 
tor named Guy Eawkes engaged to fire the train; but 
the wdiole was happily discovered in time to prevent 
the completion of the crime, and its principal con¬ 
trivers were punished with death. 

The king now attempted to unite the two king¬ 
doms, as well as crowns, of England and Scotland, 
but met with so efiective an opposition that he re¬ 
solved to summon no more parliaments: and this 
making it very difficult for his ministers to procure 





292 


JAMES I. 


tlie supplies required by the state, James created new 
dignities—more especially that of Baronet—which 
were to be paid for by large sums of money. Loans 
and benevolences were forced from the people; mo¬ 
nopolies were granted to companies and individuals, 
who gave great sums for their charters, and other 
despotic means of raising money were resorted to, all 
of which laid the foundation for those discontents 
which exploded so fatally in the succeeding reign. 

The year 1612 was marked by the death of Henry, 
Prince of Wales, eldest son of James, who expired in 
the nineteenth year of his age, to the great grief of 
the nation, to whom his many excellent qualities gave 
the fairest hopes. 

Sir Charles Cornwallis relates an anecdote to this 
effect, which will not be out of place here. 

“ Once, when Prince Henry was hunting the stag, 
it chanced that the animal, being spent, was heavily 
crossing a road, along which a butcher was travelling 
with his dog. The dog killed the stag, which was so 
great that the butcher could not carry himx off. When 
the huntsman and the company came up, they fell at 
odds with the butcher, and tried to incense the prince 
against him, to wLom the prince soberly answered— 
‘ What! if the butcher’s dog killed the stag, what 
could the butcher help it ?’ They replied—if his fa¬ 
ther had been served so, he would have swore so that 
no man could have endured it. 

“‘Away!’ replied the prince, ^all the ‘pleasure in 
the leorld is 'not icorth the utterance of an oath.'* 


JAMES I. 


2£3 


“ Nor would lie ever suffer that, in his hunting or 
hawking parties, there should be mischief done by 
himself or his train. He would permit none to pass 
through any man’s corn, and, to set them, an exam¬ 
ple, would himself rather ride a furlong about. If 
damage w'ere unwittingly done, he would instantly 
command reparation to be made, and so through all 
the ordering of his household.” 

In the next year Elizabeth, daughter of the king, 
was married to Frederick, Elector Palatine, a prince 
wdiom James afterwards disgracefully abandoned in 
his utmost distress. Erom this marriage it is that the 
Eoyal House now on the throne has descended. 

In the year 1618 the great Sir Walter Ealeigh 
was beheaded in the Tower, after an imprisonment, 
during which he had written a “ History of the 
World,” and other valuable works. He had been 
permitted to sail to South America, in the hope of 
discovering a rich gold mine, which greatly tempted 
the cupidity of James; but, being unsuccessful, the 
disgraceful pretence of his former treason, in the mat¬ 
ter of Arabella Stuart, was made an excuse for his 
destruction, in the seventy-seventh year of his age. 

In 1621 James was compelled to call a parliament, 
and it was now that the king, having declared that 
the commons owed their privileges to the grace and 
indulgence of his ancestors and himself, was met by 
the memorable protest—“ That the liberties, fran¬ 
chises, and jurisdiction of parliament are the ancient 
and undoubted birthright and inheritance of the 


294 


JAMES I. 


subjects of England.” Tliis resolution, wbich the 
king tore from the journals with his own hand, was 
followed by the immediate prorogation, and soon 
after, by the dissolution of parliament. This session 
was also rendered remarkable by the impeachment 
of a great man, whose name, if not known to you 
now, will be so hereafter—I mean Sir Erancis Bacon 
—who, I am sorry to tell you, was convicted of 
having received a bribe in his ofiBce of Lord Chan¬ 
cellor, and was driven to comparative obscurity; 
but his retirement was occupied by the composition 
of works so noble and excellent, that you will one day 
read them with respect and gratitude. 

James I. was a man of some acquirement in learn- 
iug, but of narrow intellect and coarse feelings. He 
performed few kingly actions, but laid the foundation 
of much evil, and his memory is little respected. Even 
his better qualities leaned to the side of vice or weak¬ 
ness ; his easiness of temper was but an indolent 
sensuality, and his pacific disposition and aversion to 
war, mere pusillanimity and cowardice. Of dignity 
or elevation of mind he had no conception; his tastes, 
opinions, passions, and habits, were all alike low and 
vulgar, if indeed, for some of them, these be not far 
too gentle epithets. He supposed himself to be a 
profound scholar, philosopher, and divine, and he cer¬ 
tainly was a most voluminous author, writing on all 
subjects ; and was flattered by his courtiers, who called 
him Solomon the Second. 

James married Anne, daughter of Frederick, King of 




.TAMES I. 


295 



Denmark, and left two children, his successor Charles, 
and Elizabeth, already mentioned. He died on the 
27ih of March, 1625, in the fifty-ninth year of his 
age, and twenty-second of his reign. 


The Banqueting House at Whitehall was built in 
this reign ; and “ one Edward Allen, a stage player,” 
saith the chronicler, “ founded a fair hospital at Dul- 
wicli”—the same now known as Dulwich College. 

























296 


CHARLES I, 


CHAELES I. 

1625 TO 1649. 

Chaeles I. succeeded to his father in his twenty-fifth 
year. Few princes have ascended the throne under 
circumstances apparently more prosperous, however 
fatal was the termination of his reign. Possessing 
large colonies, in alliance with all the great Euro¬ 
pean states, profitably connected by commerce with all 
quarters of the globe, and without a rival at home, 
his prospects were at that time without a cloud. 

But Charles was scarcely well seated on the throne 
before he commenced those struggles with his people, 
which terminated in his own destruction. The king 
demanded supplies for the restitution of his brother- 
in-law, the Elector Palatine, to those rights as King 
of Bohemia, of which the Emperor of Germany, had 
deprived him; but these the Commons refused to 
grant, unless the king redressed the many grievances 
they found to complain of, and consented to the limi¬ 
tation of his own prerogative. With this requisition 
Charles would not comply; three parliaments were 
called and dismissed one after another; money was 
raised in the most illegal manner; and certain mem- 



I 


CHAKLES I. 


297 


bers of the House of Commons were committed to 
prison for the expression of their opinions in the House. 

The war with Germany led to one with Spain; 
both were unsuccessful, and the Duke of Bucking¬ 
ham, the principal adviser of Charles, was blamed by 
the nation for these disasters. He was impeached by 
the Earl of Bristol, and the king immediately com¬ 
mitted several members of parliament, who favoured 
this impeachment, to prison. Both Houses presented 
a remonstrance, and the members were instantly re¬ 
leased ; but this concession was received with con¬ 
tempt rather than gratitude. The most unwise mea¬ 
sures were persisted in by the court; among others, 
a war with Erance, in which the Duke of Buckingham 
was again most unfortunate. 



This unhappy man was soon afterwards assassi 










































298 


CIIATILES I. 


nated at PortsmoutTi by his personal enemy, Felton; 
a catastrophe that was followed some years after by a 
rebellion in Scotland, occasioned by the king’s com¬ 
pelling his Scottish subjects to adopt the episcopal 
form of church government, to which they were 
strongly opposed. 

The fifth parliament of Charles’ reign is generally 
called the Long Parliament. This assembly favoured 
the Scottish insurgents, who had now entered Eng¬ 
land with a formidable army; it impeached Lord 
Strafibrd, one of the king’s most upright ministers, 
and his most faithful friend. This excellent servant 
Charles abandoned to his enemies, and he was behead¬ 
ed on the 12th of May, 1641; as was Archbishop 
Laud, another of the king’s advisers, four years after. 

The Scottish insurrection being quieted by many 
concessions, Charles paid a visit to his northern king¬ 
dom, where he was received with seeming respect; 
but while absent on this visit, a fearful massacre was 
committed in Ireland, where the Catholics destroyed 
the Protestant inhabitants to the number of 40,000; 
and even this was attributed to the king, who was 
suspected of leaning to the Catholic faith, and of thus 
inspiring a hope in the Irish Catholics that he would 
approve their terrible imitation of the French St. 
Bartholomew. 

On the 23rd of October, 1642, the civil war that 
had been long threatening broke forth in the battle 
of Edgehill; this was followed by the sieges of Grlou- 
cettcr and Bristol; by the battles of Marston Moor, 


CHARLES 1. 


209 


Ptowton, Naseby, and many others; and on the 5tn 
of May, 1640, the king sought the protection of the 
Scottish army at Newark. 

It is said that Charles refused compliance with 
such terms as his Scottish subjects now proposed to 
him ; and these, having his person in their hands, gave 
him up to the English Parliament. He was first taken 
to Hampton Court, whence he escaped; but, seeking 
refuge with the governor of the Isle of Wight, who 
was a friend to the Parliament, he was committed, a 
close prisoner, to Carisbrook Castle, in that island. 



On the 20th of January, 1G49, the king was im¬ 
peached for high treason, before what was called the 
“High Court of Justice,” in Westminster Hall. He 
refused to acknowledge the competency of the court; 
but notwithstanding this, and the absence of many of 
its members, the unhappy king was condemned to 
death, and in spite of the many remonstrances from 









300 


CHARLES I. 


various parts of the kingdom, and from foreign ambas- 
sadors, he was beheaded on a scaffold, in front of the 
Banqueting House, at AYliitehall, January the 30th, 
1049, in the 49th year of his age, and 24th of his 
reign. 

The proceedings of Charles, throughout the whole 
of his reign, were of the most arbitrary character. 
Money was collected from the people by force; the 



induence of the crown was exercised in the most open 
manner, to overawe the judges in cases in which the 
liberty of the subject was concerned. He is justly 
charged with insincerity and indirectness on many oc¬ 
casions ; and, so that he could obtain his own ends, he 
was utterly reckless of sacrificing his adherents. His 

















THE LOYAL DERBY. 


801 


domestic life is said to have been irreproachable. At 
the early part of his reign he was a liberal patron of 
the arts, and he was an elegant writer. 

The calm forgiviog spirit in which he met his fate, 
is described in very touching terms by contemporary 
writers; and the affecting farewell he took of his chil¬ 
dren proved that he was a good parent, though a bad 
king. He married Henrietta Maria, daughter of 
Henry lY. of France, and left six children, the second 
of whom eventually succeeded him. 


THE LOYAL DEEBY. 

This “faithful servant of his master,” James, seventh 
Earl of Derby, was not disposed to enter deeply into 
the political struggles of the day, and rarely left his 
retirement until the troubles of his sovereign called 
him forth, when his whole powers were at once de¬ 
voted to his service. His Countess was Charlotte de 
la Tremouille, a lady even more distinguished for 
energy and attachment to the royal cause than for 
her high birth. AYhen the king retired to York in 
1642, Lord Derby was one of the first nobles who 
joined him, and was immediately employed to rally 
the forces of Lancashire around the royal standard. 
Upwards of 60,000 men at first appeared at the mus¬ 
ters ; but a large proportion of these soon joined the 
Parliament. Derby then raised three regiments of 




302 


THE LOTAL DEUBY. 


lioi’se find tliree of foot from his own tenantry and 
others, all of whom he furnished with clothes and 
arms at his own cost. It is melancholy to relate that 
Charles showed little gratitude for these important 
services. He permitted the selfish and designing 
men, by whom he was misled, to exclude Derby from 
those offices of trust about his person, to which he 
was so well entitled, while he suffered the loyal Earl 
to exhaust his means and influence in the raising of 
troops, which were no sooner brought together than 
they were draughted off to the main army; so that 
the earl himself was left without an adequate force to 
garrison even his own mansion at Lathom. 

While preparing as he best might for a siege by 
which he was threatened here. Lord Derby received 
intelligence that an expedition was planning against 
his little sovereignty of the Isle of Man. Anxious to 
preserve this island as a place of refuge for his king, 
in case of extremity, he sailed thither, leaving his 
countess to defend Lathom House. How bravely the 
lady acquitted herself of this perilous trust, the annals 
of those times will sufficiently inform you. Fairfax 
oftered the countess a safe and honourable removal to 
Knowsley Park, then and still a seat of the Derby fa¬ 
mily ; but she declared the place should be defended 
while life remained to her. The siege was then com¬ 
menced in form ; but with so much spirit did the little 
garrison defend itself, that at the end of three months 
the royal standard was still floating over Lathom, and 
2000 of the besiegers lay buried beneath its walls, 


THE LOYAL DERBY. 


303 


The return of the earl compelled the assailants to 
raise the siege on the 27th of May, 1644. 

The earl and countess soon afterwards returned to 
the Isle of Man, which they even held for Charles II., 
after the death of his father. In 1651 Lord Derby 
responded to the summons of Charles II., and joined 
him in an enterprise that he yet saw to be hopeless. 
But the loyalty of Derby knew no faltering; at Wigan 
he was unexpectedly set upon by the parliamentary 
commander, Lilburn, and nearly his whole party was 
cut to pieces, himself escaping after having two horses 
shot under him, and with several shots in his breast¬ 
plate. After the fatal 3rd of September, (battle of 
Worcester, of which more hereafter,) Derby first pro¬ 
vided for the king’s safety, and then attempted to 
regain his own country, but was apprehended on the 
borders of Cheshire, and led prisoner to Chester. 

Wickedly condemned to the scafibld, this noble 
martyr to good faith and loyal truth endured his sen¬ 
tence as might have been expected from his high and 
spotless character. The following notices of this 
event are noticed by Bagaley, one of the earl’s own 
gentlemen:— 

“ On mounting the scaffold, his lordship called for 
the headsman, and asked to see the axe, saying— 
* Come, friend, give it me into my hand ; I’ll neither 
hurt thee nor it, and it cannot hurt me.’ He then 
asked for the block, which was not ready; then put¬ 
ting his hand in his- pocket, gave him two pieco.s of 
gold, saying—‘ This is all I have; take it, and do thy 


804 


THE LOYAL DEEBT. 


work well, and wken I am upon tke block, and lift up 
my hand, then do your work. But I doubt your coat 
is too burly (it was of great black shag), it will hinder 
you or trouble you.’ Some, standing by, bade him 
ask his lordship’s forgiveness, but he was either too 
sullen or too slow, for his lordship forgave him before 
he asked him. 

“ And so, passing to the other end of the scaffold 
where his coffin lay, spying one of his chaplains on 
horseback among the troopers, said—‘ Sir, remember 
me to your brothers and friends; you see I am ready, 
and the block is not ready, but when I am got into 
my chamber, as I shall not be long out of it (pointing 
to his coffin), I shall be at rest.’ 

“ And so, turning himself again, he saw the block, 
and looking towards the crowd, he said—‘ Good peo¬ 
ple, I thank you for your prayers and for your tears ; 
I have heard the one and seen the other, and our God 
hears and sees them both. Now the God of heaven 
bless you all, amen!’ 

“ And so, having turned himself towards the block, 
and looking tow'ards the church, his lordship caused 
the block to be turned that way, saying—‘ I will look 
towards the sanctuary, which is above for ever.’ Then, 
having his doublet off, he said—‘ How must I lie ? I 
never saw any man’s head cut off, but I will try how 
it fits;’ and so laying himself down, he stretched him¬ 
self upon it, and rose again and caused it to be a little 
removed, and looking towards the headsman said— 
^Bemember what I told you; when I lift up my 
hand then do your work.’ 


THE LOYAL HERET. 


305 


“ And to his friends about him he said—‘ The Lord 
be with you all; pray for meand so kneeling on his 
knees, made a short and private prayer, ending with 
the Lord’s Prayer. And so bowing himself again, 
said—‘ The Lord bless my wife and children; the 
Lord bless us all.’ So laying his head upon the block, 
and his arms stretched out, he said these words aloud: 
—‘Blessed be God’s holy name for ever and ever, 
amen! Let the whole earth be filled with his glory, 
amen.’ And then lifting up his hands, was ready to 
give up the ghost; but the executioner not well ob¬ 
serving, was too slow, so his lordship said to the 
headsman—‘ AVhat have I done that I die not ? Why 
do you not do your work ? AYell, I will lay myself 
down once again in peace, and I hope I shall enjoy 
everlasting peace.’ So he laid himself down again, 
with his arms stretched out, saying the same words— 
‘ Blessed be God’s glorious name for ever and ever, 
amen!’ And lifting up his hand, the executioner did 
his work, and no manner of noise was then heard but 
sighs and sobs.” 

His heroic countess spent some time in consider¬ 
able hardship and adventure after the surrender of 
the Isle of Man; but on the Eestoration, the family 
estates were restored to her eldest son, who ended his 
days at Knowsley Park. 


800 


THE COMMONWEALTH, 


THE COMMONWEALTH. 

1649 TO 1660. 

—•— 

Oh the death of Charles, the house of Lords was 
dissolved, and the monarchy abolished ; Oliver Crom¬ 
well, one of the late king’s most determined opposers, 
being the principal actor in these measures. A new 
coinage was struck, which bore the Arms of England 
on one side, with the inscription, “The Common¬ 
wealth of England,” and on the reverse the same 
Arms, with those of Ireland, and the inscription 
“God with us.” A new great seal also was made; 
on this was the House of Commons, sitting, with the 
legend, “ The First Year of Freedom, by God’s bless¬ 
ing restored, 1649.” 

Many nobles and other adherents of the late king’s 
party were now put to death; among these was the 
Marquis of Montrose, who, being taken in arms, was 
hung by the parliament, and his head was fixed on 
the Tolbooth at Edinburgh. 

Being invited by his Scottish subjects. Prince 
Charles landed in Scotland on the 16th of June, 
1650, and was there proclaimed king; but the Scot¬ 
tish army suffered a defeat at Dunbar, where Crom- 



THE COMMONWEALTH. 


307 


well gave them battle. Charles was crowned at Scone 
on the first day of the year 1651, and afterwards pro¬ 
ceeded into England, whither he was followed by 
Cromwell, who defeated his royal antagonist with 
great slaughter at Worcester, and finally drove him 
from the kingdom. The Parliament soon afterwards 
issued a decree, abolishing the Scottish monarchy, and 
uniting that country with England ; this measure was 
efiected without opposition, and members were chosen 
to represent Scotland in the English Parliament. 

The successes of Cromwell in Ireland, Scotland, 
and Holland, had raised his military reputation to a 
very high pitch. The different European courts 
sought his alliance, and he is said to have now had 
designs on the Crown; but, becoming convinced that 
he could not safely compass this, he contented him¬ 
self with driving out the Long Parliament and dis¬ 
solving the Council of State; after which he was 
proclaimed “ Lord Protector of England” by a par¬ 
liament composed of his most attached ofdcers, and 
most zealous partisans, and now governed the country 
with absolute authority. 

Having shown by what measures Cromwell ar¬ 
rived at his dignity, justice commands us to declare 
that he maintained it for the advantage of those he 
governed: victorious by land and sea, he made the 
name of the English Commonwealth to be highl}^ 
respected, and in his internal regulations he was 
careful to employ men of the highest talent. 

His elevation, even when firmly attained, was not 



303 


THE COMMOJfWEALTil. 


without its cares and difficulties; he was assailed by 
many conspiracies, and at length became extremely 
suspicious and timid. He lived in continual fear of 
assassination, and thus harassed, was seized with an 
ague, of which he died on the 3rd of September, 1658, 
in the sixtieth year of his age, and the fifth of his 
Protectorate. 

Oliver Cromwell was succeeded in the Protectorate 
by his eldest son, Bichard, who instantly received 
congratulations from foreign powers, addresses from 
his own people, and assurances from Henry Cromwell, 
his brother, who commanded for him in Ireland, and 
from Gleneral Monk, military governor of Scotland, 
that those countries were well disposed to his person 
and government; but Bichard had neither the mili¬ 
tary talent, nor the ambition of his father; he desired 
above all things to lessen the armed force of the king¬ 
dom, and this rendered him at once unpopular with 
its leaders. 

The restoration of the exiled sovereign was now 
proposed by General Monk, and agreed to by the 
Parliament; deputations were sent to him at the 
Hague, and on the 26th of May, 1660, he was re¬ 
ceived at Hover by General Monk, with whom he 
entered London on the 29th of the same month, 
which w^as his birth-day. 


TUE MARTYES OE COLCnESTER. 


309 


LOED FAIEEAX AND THE MAETYES OE 

COLCHESTEE. 

Among those who distinguished themselves in the 
storms of that period immediately preceding the 
Commonwealth, few men are more conspicuous than 
Thomas, Lord Fairfax. Eeceiving a command in the 
republican army in the first breaking out of the war, 
he was early placed in a position where his talents 
and bravery—for neither have ever been denied to 
him—found means for their display. 

At Marston Moor, Fairfax commanded the right 
wing of the cavalry, but was driven off the field by 
Prince Eupert, whose attention was mainly directed 
towards that part of the rebel forces; victory was 
nevertheless in their favour, and the gates of York 
were thrown open to the Parliament. 

When the Earl of Essex was removed from the 
post of Commander-in-Chief of the parliamentary 
forces. Sir Thomas Fairfax was appointed in his stead, 
with Oliver Cromwell as lieutenant-general. It is 
said that this latter, though but second in command, 
was, in effect, the moving spirit of all strong measures. 
Fairfax is even declared to have greatly disapproved 
the violence of his party, and to have had at one 
moment an intention of resigning; but the influence 
possessed over him by Cromwell prevented his taking 
this step. 

But the conduct of Lord Fairfax at Colchester 


310 


THE MAETTRS OF COLCHESTER. 


does not imply any great disposition to forbearance on 
his part. The siege of this town had cost him eleven 
weeks of hard labour; but be visited this opposition 
on the garrison and citizens, in a way that does him 
little credit. Two gentlemen of high reputation for 
bravery and honour, Sir Charles Lucas and Sir George 
Lisle, were ignominiously brought to trial and con¬ 
demned to be shot, for no other crime than that of 
having stoutly maintained the posts confided to them. 



Not content with this, a fine was imposed on the 
townspeople to the amount of £12,000, and no means 
were left unemployed by which the misfortune of de¬ 
feat could be embittered to them. 

On the occasion of the king’s death, the position 
taken by Lairfax is again but little remarkable for 
dignity or propriety; he either was, or affected to be, 




















THE MAETYllS OF COLCHESTER. 


31J 


desirous of preventing this sacrifice; but the account 
given by Wood—also a writer of the times—of his 
conduct on the fatal morning, gives but too much 
cause to doubt his sincerity. 

“When his Majesty was beheaded,” says Wood, 
“ and his corpse thereupon immediately coffined and 
covered with a black pall. Bishop Juxon, who attend¬ 
ed him on the scaffold, and Thomas Herbert, the only 
groom of his bedchamber that was then left, did go 
with the said corpse to the back stairs to have it em¬ 
balmed ; and Mr. Herbert, after the body had been 
deposited, meeting with the General (Bairfax), Bair- 
fax asked him ‘ how the king did ? ’ Whereupon 
Herbert, looking very strangely upon him, told him 
that ‘the king was beheaded,’ at which he seemed 
much surprised —a thing altogether incredible, the 
nature of the event and his own situation considered. 
To shrink from the responsibility of an action does 
not suffice to shield those from the blame of it, whose 
participation in the principles that have led to its 
commission cannot be doubted; and thus these un¬ 
worthy pretences rather discredit than exonerate 
Lord Bairfax. 

That he afterwards joined Monk in restoring the 
monarchy is well known; but his doing so is by no 
means conclusive as to his dispositions at the time ot 
which we have just spoken. Nor does it at all lessen 
the suspicions of tergiversation that must cling to his 
character—so difficult is it to walk in a slippery path 
—so dangerous are all departures from the stated line 
of truth and duty. 


312 


CHAELES II. 


RESTOEATION OE THE STUAETS. 

C H A E L E S II. 

1660 TO 1685. 


-•- 

This king was in liis tliirtietli year, when, after a 
youth of so much adversity, he ascended the English 
throne. It might have been expected that the sor¬ 
rows he had seen his family involved in would have 
proved a salutary lesson, but this was not the case; 
among the earliest acts of Charles’ reign was the im¬ 
prisonment of many presbyterian divines, and in the 
following year the most rigorous measures were en¬ 
forced against all who should dissent from the episco¬ 
pal form of church government, and this in direct 
violation of the king’s promise, given at his accession, 
which guaranteed freedom in religion to all classes of 
his subjects. 

The important fortress of Dunkirk was next sur¬ 
rendered to Erance for the sum of £400,000; and a 
war declared against Holland was supposed to be but 
a new pretext for extorting supplies from the Parlia¬ 
ment; it was distinguished at first by a brilliant 
naval victory, gained by the Duke of Tork, brother of 



CHAELES II. 


313 


Charles, but was terminated by a discreditable treaty 
of peace; and Hyde, Earl of Clarendon, the king’s 
minister, being blamed for these things, was aban¬ 
doned by his ungrateful master, and permitted to die 
in exile. 

The year 1665 was marked by that fearful visita¬ 
tion known as “ The Great Plague,” and which des¬ 
troyed nearly 100,000 persons in London and its 
neighbourhood only. This was succeeded in the 
following year by a fire, which raged during three 
days, and consumed a large part of the city. It was 
in commemoration of this last event that the column 
called the “ Monument ” was erected on Eish Street 
Hill. 
















314 


CHAELES II. 


In 1679, the Habeas Corpus Act (almost the only 
creditable Act of the reign) was passed, and in the 
same year the Scottish Covenanters, who had taken 
arms for the recovery of those religious privileges 
which the king had deprived them of, after having 
sworn to the contrary, were defeated with great 
slaughter at Bothwell Bridge. 

The remainder of this disgraceful reign is a series 
of plots, real or pretended, the principal of which, 
called the Popish Plot, occupied the public mind for 
some years. Many executions followed the accusa¬ 
tions consequent on this, and one of the most active 
agents of the king’s tyranny and injustice was Judge 
Jefferies, whom Charles had made Lord Chief Justice. 

It was at this period of violence and misgovern- 
ment that the terms Whig and Tory first came into 
use; at first adopted as terms of mockery and reproach, 
they have since passed into party distinctions. 

Among the latest events of this melancholy reign, 
was the Rye House Conspiracy. Lord Russell and 
Algernon Sidney, both men of the highest distinction, 
were involved in this, and suffered death. 

On the 2nd of February, 1685, the king was 
seized with the illness of which he died on the 6th 
of the same month, after a reign of twenty-four 
years. 

Worthless and wholly unprincipled, few monarchs 
so despicable as was Charles II. have disgraced the 
British throne. The sworn Defender of the Protes¬ 
tant faith, he is nevertheless reported to have lived a 



KIl^G CHAELES’ TALE OE EOSCOBEL. 315 

Catholic, and to have received the sacrament of that 
church on his death-bed, but still in the closest se¬ 
crecy. He married Catharine, daughter of the King 
of Portugal. 


KING- CHAELES’ TALE OE EOSCOBEL. 

Few incidents of Charles II.’s life or reign are avail¬ 
able as subjects for circumstantial narrative; but 
there is an account of his concealment at Boscobel, 
after the Battle of Worcester, the details of which 
contain much interest. It was found among the 
Pepys Manuscripts in Magdalen College, Cambridge, 
and is said to have been dictated to Pepys by Charles 
himself—a fact that greatly increases its value, and 
which seems well authenticated. 

“After that the battle (of Worcester) was so ab¬ 
solutely lost as to be beyond hope of recovery, I began 
to think of the best way of saving myself, and the 
first thought that came into my head was, that, if I 
could possibly, I would get to London as soon, if not 
sooner, than the news of our defeat could get thither; 
and it being near dark, I talked with some, and es¬ 
pecially with my Lord Eochester, who was then Wil- 
mot, about their opinions, which would be the best 
way for me to escape. I found them mightily dis¬ 
tracted, and their opinions different. I did not im¬ 
part my design of getting to London to any but my 



316 KING CHAllLFS’ TALE OF BOSCOBEL. 

Lord Wilmot. We had such a number of beaten 
men, of the horse, with us, that I strove, as soon as 
ever it was dark, to get away from them ; but, though 
I could not get them to stand by me against the 
enemy, neither could I get rid of them now I had a 
mind to it. 

“ So we—that is, my Lord Duke of Buckingham, 
Lauderdale, Derby, Wilmot, Tom Blaque, Duke Dar- 
cey, and several others of my servants—went along 
northwards, as if for Scotland, and at last we got 
about sixty that were gentlemen and officers, and 
slipt away out of the high road that goes to Lancas- 
tershire, and kept on the right hand, lettiug all the 
beaten men go along the great road, and ourselves not 
knowing very well which way to go, for it was then 
too late to get to London on horseback by riding 
directly for it; nor could we do it, because there was 
yet many people of quality with us that I could not 
get rid of. 

“We went that night about twenty miles, to a 
place called White Ladys, hard by Tong Castle, where 
we got some little refreshment of bread and cheese, 
such as we could, it beginning to get day. This 
White Ladys belonged to honest people that lived 
thereabouts. 

“ Then I took the resolution of putting myself into 
a disguise, and endeavouring to get a-foot to London, 
in a country fellow’s habit, with a pair of ordinary 
grey cloth breeches, a leathern doublet, and a green 
jerkin, which I took in the house of White Ladys. 


. KING CHAELES’ TALE OE BOSCOBEL. 317 

I also cut my hair very short, and flung my clothes 
into a place where none could And them. None hut 
my Lord Wilmot knew of my trying for London, they 
all desiring me not to acquaint them with what I 
would do, for they knew not what they might be 
forced to confess. 

“As soon as I was disguised I took with me a 
country fellow, whose name was Lichard Penderell, 
whom Mr. Gifiard answered for to be an honest man. 
He was a Eoman Catholic, and I knew they had hid¬ 
ing holes for priests that I thought I might make use 
of in case of need. 

“ I was no sooner gone out of the house with this 
country fellow, but being in a great wood I set my¬ 
self at the edge of the wood, near the high way that 
was there, the better to see who came after us, and if 
they made any search after the runaways; and I saw 
a troop of horse coming by, but it did not look like 
the army’s, but rather like militia, for the fellow be¬ 
fore it did not look at all like a soldier. In this wood 
I staid all day without meat or drink, and by great 
good fortune it rained all the time, which hindered 
them, as I believe, from coming into the wood to 
search for men that might be fled thither. As I was 
in the wood I talked with the fellow about getting 
away; but my mind changed as I lay in the wood, and 
I resolved to get over the Severn into Wales, and so 
by some sea towns that I knew had commerce with 
France. 

“So that night, as soon as it was dark, Eichard 


318 


KING CHAELES TALE OF BOSCOBEL. 


Penderell and I took our journey on foot towards the 
Severn, intending to pass over a ferry half way be¬ 
tween Bridgenorth and Shrewsbury, (Memorandum 
—that I had got some bread and cheese the night 
before.at one of the Pendereils’ houses, I not going 
in,) but as we were going in the night we came by a 
mil), where w^e heard some people talking, and the 
country fellow desired me not to answer if any body 
spoke, because I had not the accent of the country. 

“Just as we came to the mill, We could see the 
miller, as I thought, being in white clothes, it being 
a very dark night. He called out, ‘ Who goes there ? ’ 
To which Penderell answered, ‘ Neighbours going 
home,’ or some such words. 

“Whereupon the miller cried out, ‘If you be 
neighbours, stand! or I will knock you down.’ Upon 
which the fellow bade me follow him close, and he 
ran to a gate that went up a dirty lane up a hill, and 
opening the gate the miller cried out, ‘ Eogues, rogues!’ 
and some men came out of the mill, which I believed 
were soldiers. So we fell a running both of us up the 
lane as long as we could run, it being very deep and 
very dirty; till at last I bade him leap over a hedge 
and lie still, to hear if anybody followed us, which 
we did, and lay on the ground half an hour, but hear¬ 
ing nobody, we continued our way to a village on the 
Severn, where the fellow told me was an honest gen¬ 
tleman, one Mr. Woolfe, where I might be safe, for 
he had hiding holes for priests. But I would not go 
till I knew a little of his mind, and therefore staid 


KING CHAELES’ TALE OE EOSCOEEL. 319 

under a hedge, commanding him not to saj it was i,' 
but only to ask if he would hide a gentleman from 
Worcester field. 

“Mr. Woolfe said he would not venture his neck 
in so dangerous a thing, unless it were for the king 
himself; then Eichard Penderell, very indiscreetly, 
and without any leave, told him it was I. 

“ So I came into the house a back way, where I 
found Mr. Woolfe, an old gentleman, who said he 
was very sorry to see me there, because there were 
two companies of foot in the town, who kept guard at 
the ferry to examine all who came, and that he durst 
not put me in the hiding holes, because they had 
been discovered, and that therefore I had no other 
way but to go into his barn, and there lie behind his 
corn and hay. So after he had given us some cold 
meat, w'e, without making any bustle in the house, 
went and lay in the barn all the next day. Towards 
evening, his son, who had been a prisoner at Shrews¬ 
bury, an honest* man, was released, and came home to 
his father’s house; and as soon as ever it began to be 
a little darkish, Mr. Woolfe and his son brought us 
meat into the barn, and there we discoursed with 
them whether we might safely get over the Severn, 
which they advised by no means to adventure. Upon 
this, I took resolution of going that night the very 
same way back to Penderell’s house, where I might 
hear what was become of my Lord Wilmot. So we 

* The term “honest” tliroughout this njcital means “of the 
royalist party.'* 


320 KING CIIAELES’ TALE OE BOSCOBEL. 

set out as soon as it was dark; but as we came by the 
mill again, we had no mind to be questioned a second 
time there; and therefore, asking Hichard whether 
he could swim or no, and how deep the river was, he 
told me it was a scurvy river, not easy to be past, and 
that he could not swim. So I told him that the river 
being but a little one, I would undertake to help him 
over, and I, entering the river first, and taking Bichard 
Penderell by the hand, helped him over; which being 
done, we went on our way to one of Penderell’s brO' 
thers. It being now towards morning, and having 
travelled two nights on foot. And Penderell’s brother 
told me that he had guided my Lord "Wilmot to a 
very honest gentleman’s house, a Eoman (^Jatholic, 
one Mr. Whitgreave, not far from "Wolverhampton. 
I asked him what news ? He said there was one 
Major Careless, of our army, in the house, and I sent 
for him, consulting what to do. 

“ He told me it would be very dangerous either to 
stay in that house or to go into the wood—there being 
a great wood hard by Boscobel; that he knew but 
one way how to pass the next day, and that was to 
get up into a great oak, in a pretty plain place, where 
we could see round about us, for the enemy would 
certaiuly search both the house and wood. Of 
which proposition of his, I approving, we—that is to 
say. Careless and I—went and carried up some victuals 
for the whole day, namely, bread, cheese, small beer 
and nothing else, and got up into a great oak that had 
been lopt some three or four years before, and being 


KING CHARLES’ TALE OF LOSCOBSL. 321 

grown out again very bushy and thick, could not be 
seen through, and here we stayed all day. I having 
sent Penderell’s brother to know whether my Lord 
Wilmot was at Mr. Whitgreave’s or no, and had 
word brought me at night that my lord was there, 
and had a very secure hiding hole, in that he desired 
me to come thither to him. 

“ Memorandum—that, while we were in this tree, 
we see soldiers going up and down in the thicket of 
the wood, searching for persons escaped; we seeing 
them, now and then peeping out of the tree. 

“ That night, E-ichard Penderell and I went to Mr. 
Whitgreave’s (the king calls this gentleman ‘ Pitch- 
croft* by mistake, Pitchcroft being the meadow where 
bis troops had encamped at Worcester, a confusion of 
names by no means wonderful under the circum¬ 
stances), about six or seven miles off, where I found 
him and an old grandmother of his, and Father Hurl- 
ston. Here I spoke with my Lord Wilmot, and sent 
him away to Colonel Lane’s, who told my lord that 
he had a sister who had a very fair pretence for going 
hard by Bristol, and that she might carry me thither 
as her man, and from Bristol I might find shipping to 
get out of England.” 

The particulars of this perilous journey are too 
long to be here related; but the starting for Mr. 
Whitgreave’s must not be omitted. Six brothers of 
the Penderell family were in the secret; but those 
principally instrumental were Eichard and William. 

Ho shoes could be found to substitute those of 

y 


322 KING CHABLES’ TALE OE BOSCOBEL. 

Charles, which were dripping with rain, so the good 
wife put hot coals in them to dry them the faster, and 
gave the king a posset of skimmed milk and small 
beer. Her husband, William, cut off the monarch’s 
long hair as close as scissors would shear it, while she 
discoloured his hands with walnut leaves. Humphrey 
Penderell, the miller of White Ladys, got his mill 
horse up from grass, with “ a pitiful old saddle and 
worse bridle.” This beast the king mounted, his feet 
being yet tender with his foot travelling, and rode to¬ 
wards Mosely, attended by William, Greorge, Eichard, 
Humphrey, and John Penderell, with Erancis Tates, 
who had married their sister, and whose coarse shirts, 
together with the old working clothes of William Pen¬ 
derell, his Majesty wore. 

When the king had jolted along some few miles, 
his distress became too strong for his politeness, and 
he was fain to cry out that Humphrey’s horse “ was 
the heaviest dull jade he ever rode on.” It is re¬ 
corded, with what truth I will not say, that the good 
miller ventured the following witty defence of his 
steed:—“ My liege, can you blame the horse to go 
heavily, when he hath the weight of three kingdoms 
on his back ?” Major Careless, being too well known, 
did not accompany the cavalcade, which proceeded in 
this wise: two brothers marched before, one walked 
on each side the king’s horse, and two brought up 
the rear; and thus all came safe to Mr. Whitgreave’s. 

We cannot follow the king through his numerous 
hair-breadth escapes after this. On one occasion, 


KlUa CHAELES’ TALE OF BOSCOBEL. 323 

going into the kitclien as became bis seeming rank, 
the cook desired him to wind up the jack, which he 
not doing to her liking, the mistress of the spit re¬ 
warded him with a heavy blow, calling him a black 
blockhead (the complexion of Charles was extremely 
dark), and desiring to know “ where the dickens he 
had lived, that he had not learnt to wind up a jack!” 
The king modestly replied that he was but a poor 
man’s son, and had not long been in his lady’s ser¬ 
vice ; an explanation by which his irascible examiner 
w^as probably appeased. It is pleasant to find that 
the whole Penderell family, and all those who had as¬ 
sisted Charles in this critical period of his life, W'eie 
suitably rew^arded on his restoration. 



/ . 









































JAMES II 


1685 TO 1688. 

—♦- 

This prince was tlie tliird son of Charles I., and bro¬ 
ther of Charles II., whom he succeeded without oppo¬ 
sition, notwithstanding his known attachment to the 
Catholic religion. He is said to have instantly made 
arrangements with the French court for the continu¬ 
ance of a pension which his late brother had been in 
the habit of receiving from it, and which he was not 
himself ashamed to receive after him. 

The customs and excise duties were not then fixed 
as now, and having been granted to Charles for his 
life only, could not legally be claimed by his successor 
without a new grant; but James instantly commanded 
their payment. It was then illegal to hear mass, yet 
the king did this openly, and even sent envoys to 
Home, soliciting the re-admission of the English 
Church within the Catholic pale. 

James was hardly well seated on his throne, before 
his territories were invaded by the Dukes of Argyle 
and Monmouth, the latter a son of Charles II., both 
of whom had for some time been exiles in Holland. 
These noblemen were defeated separately, and both 







JAMES II. 


325 


brought to the block; James resolutely refusing all 
mercy to his nephew, though greatly pressed for a 
pardon. The wicked Jeffreys, and Colonel Kirke, a 
person equally infamous, were despatched into the 
western counties, for the purpose of punishing Mon¬ 
mouth’s adherents, and committed cruelties and acts 
of tyranny in the discharge of this office that are too 
fearful to be credited, were they not authenticated 
beyond all doubt. 

It had been enacted in the preceding reign, that 
no Catholic should hold office in the state. This law 
James dispensed with; the army, the civil offices of 
state, and even the privy council, were filled with Pa¬ 
pists ; all remonstrance to the king was useless. He 
established a court of ecclesiastical commission, by 
which Dr. Sharpe, a clergyman of great merit, and 
the Bishop of London, were suspended from their re¬ 
spective duties: the first for opposing Popery, and the 
second, for having refused to suspend him on the 
king’s requisition to that effect. The king next issued 
letters of indulgence, which, seemingly calculated to 
promote toleration, were really meant to mask the in¬ 
troduction of Popery, and these he commanded to be 
read in all churches. The clergy refusing compliance 
were supported by the bishops, seven of whom were 
sent to the Tower. On their trial, these prelates were 
acquitted amidst the acclamations of thousands; but 
the king, unwarned by this, proceeded to impose Ca¬ 
tholics on the two universities, and expelled the Pel- 
lows of Magdalen College, Oxford, for refusing to elect 
the President he desired. 


326 


JAMES II. 



These measures caused the Protestants to draw 
together more earnestly for the common defence, and 
William, Prince of Orange, who had married James’ 
eldest daughter, Mary, was invited to their assistance. 
He complied without reluctance, landed in Torbay, 
with 14,000 men, on the 5th of IS’ovember, 1688, and 
by the end of that month James found himself de¬ 
serted, not only by his pe-'ple, but by his personal 
friends and servants—nay, even by his children 
themselves. 

This last was a very bitter circumstance ; and when 
intelligence was brought him that his favourite child, 
Anne, had departed, the unhappy father exclaimed 
with tears—“ Grod help me, my own children have 
forsaken me.” 


Finding all lost, he sent the queen and 


the young 

























TILE MABTYES TO HUMANITY. 327 

prince (who escaped by night in a boat on the Thames) 
to France. James afterwards embarked himself in a 
small boat, with one attendant, at Whitehall Stairs; 
but, being driven back by a storm, he returned to 
Whitehal], and on the 17th of December, William of 
Orange arrived, and desired the king to leave the 
palace. James then retired to Eochester, and soon 
afterwards to France, where Louis XIY. received him 
with much kindness, and assigned him a small pension 
for his support, with the castle of St. Gfermains for his 
residence. 


THE MAETIES TO HUMANITY. 

Among those who fell victims to the king’s resent¬ 
ment of Monmouth’s rebellion was a lady of advanced 
age, named Lisle, whose crime was the having given 
shelter for one night to a Presbyterian minister named 
Hickes, and a person called Nelthorpe, both partisans 
of Monmouth, and who were flying for their lives after 
the duke’s defeat. This lady, convicted on the evi¬ 
dence extorted, by the acts of Jeffreys, from the un¬ 
willing lips of a man who had himself guided the fu¬ 
gitives to her dwelling, could obtain no other grace at 
the king’s hands than that of having her sentence, 
which was to be burned alive, commuted for behead¬ 
ing, which last she suffered accordingly. 

This lady’s case is, however, so well known, and 
has been so frequently described, that we do but give 
its outline, and proceed to one yet more melancholy, 
which has not been so often related. 



328 


THE MAETIRS TO HUMANlTT. 


Elizabeth Gaunt, a person of humble station, was 
accused by one Burton, of having sheltered him — him, 
the accuser ! when charged with being an accomplice 
in the Bye House Plot, and afterwards, when on the 
point of being taken in arms for Monmouth. This 
miscreant, having been apprehended spite of his 
friends’ efforts, accused and convicted Eernley, a per¬ 
son also of the lower classes, of having concealed and 
sheltered him. The court were then bade to decide 
as to whether they would punish Burton himself or 
Elizabeth Gaunt, one of those whom this villain de¬ 
scribed as having aided him; but a wretch so un¬ 
scrupulous was likely to be useful for the conviction 
of others, and the victim selected was the unhappy 
Mrs. Gaunt. 

Being put on her trial, it was proved by Burton 
that, after the Bye House conspiracy, Mrs. Gaunt had 
procured him a passage to Holland; that, on his re¬ 
turn with Monmouth’s army, she had supplied him 
with money, and had undertaken to save his life a 
second time, by once more contriving his escape into 
Holland. Eight judges were found to assist in this 
deplorable trial. Boger North, a well known writer 
of the day, was an active counsel against this' benevo¬ 
lent and courageous woman, whose only offence was 
an act of charity and humanity—her accuser mean¬ 
while being openly known as a rebel and intended 
assassin; his conduct to herself sufficing, indeed, to 
convict him of the very blackest crime. 

In these days it will, happily, seem like a monstrous 
impossibility, but it is nevertheless a lamentable truth 


WILLIAM AUD MAET. 


329 


that this most guiltless woman was condemned to be 
burnt at the stake, and that her fearful sentence was 
instantly carried into execution. When fastened to 
the fatal pile, she disposed the straw around her per¬ 
son in such manner as she thought best calculated to 
shorten her agony by a strong and quick fire, but with 
a composure by which the spectators were melted to 
tears. “ She thanked God that He had enabled her 
to succour the destitute, that the blessing of those 
who were ready to perish had come upon her, and 
that the act for which she was doomed by men was no 
offence to the laws of Him who hath commanded to 
aid the oppressed, and not to betray the wanderer.” 
How different the feelings of her murderers, when in 
» their turn called on to prepare for death. 


WILLIAM AND MARY. 

1688 TO 1702. 

—— 

The expulsion of James was followed, after long and 
anxious discussion, by the settlement of the crown on 
. the Prince and Princess of Orange, the regal power 
being vested in the prince only, although in the name 
of both; but their assent was first demanded to a 
“Declaration of Eights,” wherein it was declared ille¬ 
gal for the sovereign to repeal laws, levy taxes, or 




330 


WILLIAM AND MART. 


maintain a standing army in time of peace, without 
the consent of Parliament. Many other stipulations 
were made, to all which, the new king and queen 
having assented, were immediately proclaimed. 

The authority of William was acknowledged with 
little opposition in Scotland, w^hose crown James was 
declared to have forfeited; but in Ireland his acces¬ 
sion was strongly opposed. The Earl of Tyrconnel, 
w'ho governed the island for James, gathered a large 
army, and being joined by James himself, their forces 
amounted to not less than 38,000 men. 

The Protestants, meanwhile, were not idle, and 
those of Londonderry more especially distinguished 
themselves. Finding the garrison resolved on sur¬ 



rendering to James, the citizens took arms, and endured 
the miseries of famine, added to all the other horrors 

























WILLIAM AND MALY. 


331 


of a siege, for three months; after which they were re¬ 
lieved by an English fleet with troops and provisions, 
and James was compelled to raise the siege. 

Eeturning to Dublin, James now assembled an 
Irish parliament; this assembly passed the most san¬ 
guinary edicts against the Protestants, and it may be 
feared that, but for the arrival of William, the island 
would soon have become a scene of massacre. The 
opposing armies met on the banks of the Boyne, 1st 
of July, 1690, and a battle was there fought, which, 
long doubtful, at length terminated in favour of Wil¬ 
liam; James being again driven into Erance. 

The government had been intrusted to Mary 
during her husband’s absence, and a battle was fought 
between the Dutch and English fleets and that of 
Erance, against which nation war had been declared 
on the day preceding the battle of the Boyne. On 
this occasion, the honour of the English navy was tar¬ 
nished by the admiral in command permitting the 
Dutch to sustain the heat of the conflict, w'hile his 
own ships remained out of action; for this he was 
brought to account as he deserved. 

O 

Many plots were set on foot from time to time for 
the restoration of James, and some who were impli¬ 
cated in them suffered death. The war with Erance 
also continued, but William met all difficulties with 
judgment and vigour. In 1692 a second attempt was 
made on the part of James; a large army and power¬ 
ful fleet were provided, but this force was met by 
Admiral Eussel, who commanded the English squad- 


332 


WILLIAM AND MART. 


ron, and wlio, in concert with the Dutch fleet, attacked 
the enemy near La Hogue on the 19th of May, when 
a battle of ten hours was terminated by a complete 
victory on the part of the English; after which, James 
made no further effort to regain his crown, but, retir¬ 
ing to St. Grermains, he passed the rest of his life in 
religious seclusion. 

In 1694, the queen was attacked by the small pox, 
and died on the 28th of December, after an illness of 
seven days, and in the thirty-third year of her age. 
Bishop Burnet, who attended the deathbed of this 
princess, gives a touching picture of her piety and 
resignation. 

The year 1701 was marked by the death of James 
Stuart, the deposed king, at St. Germains, in the 
practice of austerities that gained him the reputation 
of a saint. In the succeeding year, William, being 
thrown from his horse, broke his collar bone; and al¬ 
though no alarm was at first experienced, he died in 
consequence of this injury on the 12th of March, 
1702, being in the fifty-second year of his age, and 
the thirteenth of his reign. 

The excellent Archbishop Tillotson lived in this 
reign, as did the great mathematician. Sir Isaac New¬ 
ton, and the metaphysical writer, Locke. 


rnE MASSACEE or GLE^TCOE. 


333 


THE MASSACEE OE GLENCOE. 

The reign of William is stained by an act of cruelty 
fortunately very rare in our later annals, and wliicb, 
if not wholly the fault of the sovereign, reflects deeply 
on his character, as one who ought to have been the 
guardian of his people from injuries inflicted by others, 
as well as merciful towards them in his own person. 
The circumstance to which we allude has been well 
named “The massacre of Glencoe,” for a massacre it 
was, in the strongest force of the term. 

In the month of August, 1691, a proclamation was 
issued, commanding the Highlanders of Scotland to 
give in their adherence to the government of William 
before the 1st of January next ensuing, on pain of 
military execution on those who should refuse. But 
the Highland chieftains had shown a stubborn attach¬ 
ment to the House of Stuart. It was found, how¬ 
ever, that all had obeyed the proclamation, Mac¬ 
donald of Glencoe alone excepted, and he was ren¬ 
dered one day too late, by the accident of mistaking 
the place at which his allegiance was to be ofiered. 

Now it chanced that Macdonald was on terms of 
enmity with the Earl of Breadalbane, and obnoxious 
to Sir John Dalrymple, Secretary of State; thus, the 
fact that he was prevented by accident being con¬ 
cealed, King William was led to believe him wilfully 
contumacious, and gave the order for visiting him 
with military execution. With malignant coolness 
Dalrymple wrote instruction for a party of soldiers. 



834 


THE MASSACRE OF GLENCOE. 


directing them to choose the long stormy nights of 
winter for their onslaught, so that any of the clan 
who might escape the sword might perish by exposure 
to the elements. 

“The winter,” he said, “is the only season when 
the Highlanders cannot elude us, or carry their wives, 
children, and cattle to the mountains. They cannot 
escape you, for what human frame can endure to be 
long without shelter in that climate ? This is the pro¬ 
per season to maul them. They must all be slaugh¬ 
tered,” he adds afterwards, “ and the manner of exe¬ 
cution must be sure, secret, and effectual.” 

This hateful office was not likely to be well per¬ 
formed by the ordinary troops; it was therefore con¬ 
fided to a militia company of a clan hostile to the 
people of Grlencoe. About 400 of the Earl of Argyle’s 
regiment, under the command of Captain Campbell, 
of Glenlyon, entered the devoted valley about the end 
of January. They were hospitably entertained for a 
fortnight, with the most unsuspecting frankness; 
Glenlyon frequently dining with the son of the chief, 
and the wicked errand he came on beins: sedulouslv 
concealed. On the night before the slaughter was to 
take place, two of Glencoe’s sons were kept late at 
Glenlyon’s quarters playing cards, while the treach¬ 
erous commander and two of his officers had accepted 
an invitation to dine the next day with the chief, well 
knowing that himself and his whole clan would be 
massacred before the hour appointed for the meal! 

About four in the morning of the 13th of February 


THE MASSA.CEE OF GLEJfCOE. 


335 


the work of death began. The aged chief was shot as 
he rose from his bed ; several of his domestics fell at 
the same time; the soldiers, among other outrages, 
tore the rings from his wife’s fingers with their teeth, 
and she died the day following in a state of madness I 
Every little hamlet throughout the remote glen was 
attacked at the same time, and the inmates butchered 
without mercy. Many perished in the snow while 
seeking to escape by flight; and, had not a second 
party of soldiers, who had been ordered to fill up all 
the avenues to the glen, been prevented from taking 
up their position by the violence of the storm, the few 
who did escape must have perished also. The two 
sons of the chief were saved by a timely warning; but 
every house in the valley was destroyed, and all the 
cattle and other property of the clan Macdonald 
carried off*. 

This heinous massacre excited universal indigna¬ 
tion, c\f which the king had his share. He was ac¬ 
quitted of having meditated this crime, when a parlia¬ 
mentary inquiry was instituted some years after; but 
Sir John Dairymple could never afterwards appear 
prominently in public affairs, and was for some years 
prevented from taking his seat in parliament—a pun¬ 
ishment certainly be:iring no proportion to the mag¬ 
nitude of his offence. But we may be very sure that 
the reproaches of his own conscience supplied a heavy 
retribution, though the laws of his country permitted 
him to escape with so light a one. 


EEIGN OF ANNE. 


33t) 


EEIGN OF ANNE 

1702 TO 1714. 

♦— 

William III., having left no child, was succeeded by 
Anne, second daughter of James II., and sister of 
Mary, William’s queen ; their mother was Anne Hyde, 
daughter of the Earl of Clarendon, whom James had 
married when he was Duke of York. 

Anne was married in 1683 to Prince Greorge, 
brother of Christian Y., King of Denmark, and we 
have already seen that in the Kevolution of 1688, she 
took part with William of Orange against her father, 
as did her husband, Oeorge of Denmark. The crown 
had been guaranteed to her on the accession of Wil¬ 
liam and Mary, in the event of their leaving no child¬ 
ren, and it was by this title that she succeeded. 

The Erench court having recognised the claim of 
James II.’s son, called Prince of Wales, to the Eng¬ 
lish crown, war was declared against Erance and 
Spain, which countries were then closely allied; and 
the history of Anne’s reign is little more than the 
history of exploits performed, and victories obtained 
by her great military and naval commanders, Marl¬ 
borough, Peterborough, Kooke, Shovel, and Stanhope. 
These we must pass over rapidly; Sir George Eooke 
captured Gibraltar, but scarcely received an acknow¬ 
ledgment for this very important service, while Marl¬ 
borough’s victory of Blenheim was rewarded by a 
magnificent estate. 





REIGN or ANNE. 


337 


In 1703 tlie queen was deprived of her husband, 
Prince George, who died on the 28th of October of 
that year; her life was much harassed by the loss of 
her children, by political changes and disputes. But 
the prince took small part in these, and he had little 
influence on aff’airs of state. In 1706 the legislative 
Union of England and Scotland was effected, and this 
. was one of the most important events of Anne’s reign. 

In April, 1713, the peace of Utrecht was signed, 
after which little occurred worth mention until the 
death of the queen, which took place on the 12th of 
August, 1714, in the fiftieth year of her age and 
thirteenth of her reign. The great names of Anne’s 
day are, Addison, Pope, and Swift; Congreve and 
Steele, were also distinguished writers of the period. 

St. Paul’s Cathedra], which had been built by Sir 
Christopher Wren, w^as finished in this reign. 



z 





















338 


GEORGE I. 


HOUSE OF HANOVEE. 

GEOEOE I. 

1714 TO 1727. 

It is believed that Anne would very gladly have 
favoured the succession of her brother, the so-called 
Prince of Wales, when the death of her own son, a 
promising boy of twelve years old, left her childless. 
But the Act of Succession, by which she had herself 
gained the throne, had already settled that the House 
of Hanover was the next Protestant heir, in default 
of her sister’s children and her own, and the queen’s 
death prevented whatever designs she may have had 
as to changing this decision. 

George I. was the son of Ernest Augustus, Elector 
of Brunswick, and Sophia, grand-daughter of James I., 
her mother being that Elizabeth who was married to 
Frederick, Elector Palatine. This prince was in his 
fifty-fourth year when he ascended the British throne, 
and an attempt was immediately made in Scotland to 
raise the son of James II. to his place. A battle was 
fought at Dunblane, on the 13th of November, 1715, 
of which the issue remained so doubtful, that both 
parties claimed the victory; but the king’s generals 
compelled the rebel forces to surrender at Preston, 
and in the end, Lords Nithsdale, Derwentwater, Ken- 
mure, and many others, were impeached for this trea¬ 
son. Nithsdale escaped by the devotion of his wife. 


GEOEGE I. 


330 


who contrived to get him out of Newgate dressed in 
her own clothes, herself remaining in his place. The 
others were executed. 

In 1725 the Order of the Bath was revived, and 
in the same year the Spaniards attempted to gain 
possession of Gibraltar, but without success. Peace 
with Spain soon followed, and the king resolved on a 
visit to his Electoral dominions, but, being taken ill on 
the way, he died at Osnaburg on the 12th of June, 
1727, after a reign of thirteen years, and in the sixty- 
eighth year of his age. 

George I. married his cousin, Sophia Dorothea, 
daughter of the Duke of Zell; this lady he kept im¬ 
prisoned at his Castle of Athlen, in Hanover, on a 
charge of improper conduct, believed to have been 
totally false, from the year 1694 until 1726, when she 
died. He had two children, George, who succeeded 
him, and Sophia Dorothea, married afterwards to 
Frederick II., of Prussia. 

The tolerance displayed on more than one occasion 
by George I., towards persons supposed unfriendly to 
the accession of his family, is very creditable to a 
monarch whose sense of insecurity, arising from va¬ 
rious causes, might have led him to more tenacity on 
the subject of his claims. Of this placable disposition 
on the king’s part several instances are related, among 
others the following:— 

At the first masquerade attended by George I.,, 
after his accession to the English throne, a mask ac¬ 
costed him, and, leading him to a place where stood 



340 


GEORGE I. 


refreshments, poured a glass of wine and presented it 
to the sovereign; then, filling a second, said, I drink 
to the health of the Pretender ”—a person whose 
“pretensions” were not at that time altogether un¬ 
likely to disquiet the seated monarch; but in no way 
disconcerted, Greorge I. replied, smiling, “ And I 
pledge you willingly—I drink wdth all my heart to 
the health of all unfortunate princes.” 

A gentleman who had been long known as an 
adherent of the Stuarts, was many times sum,moned 
before the council, but had defended himself so dex¬ 
terously on all occasions, that nothing material could 
be proved against him. On the breaking out of the 
rebellion in 1715, this person, who mixed some hu¬ 
mour with his politics, wrote a letter to the Secretary 
of State, intimating that as, “ at a time like this,” they 
would be tolerably sure to take him up as a Jacobite, 
reason or none, according to their custom, he had to 
beg as a favour that the administration w'ould set 
about it at once if they meant it at all: in any case 
not later than next week, because the week after he 
proposed going into Devonshire on his own business, 
which would doubtless be construed into the business 
of the Pretender. Lord Townshend, who was Secre¬ 
tary of State at that time, showed this letter to the 
king, and asked what his Majesty would direct to be 
done with the writer. “Done with him I” replied 
the king, “ I would have nothing done with him! Let 
him do what he likes with himselt, there cannot be 
much harm in a man who writes so pleasantly.” 


GEOEGE II. 


341 


George the First has received but little praise as a 
patron of arts or learning in England; yet, if the fol¬ 
lowing anecdote may be relied on, he was not alto¬ 
gether insensible to their value. A German noble 
was one day congratulating the monarch on his sove¬ 
reignty of such possessions as Great Britain and 
Hanover—“Bather,” replied the king, “you should 
congratulate me that I have two such subjects as 
Newton in the one, and Leibnitz in the other.” 


GEOEGE II. 

1727 TO 1760. 

- ■ 

Geoege II. succeeded his father during a period of 
internal tranquillity, and the war in which England 
was engaged with Spain was terminated by the minis¬ 
ter Walpole, who maintained the country in peace 
during ten years. After that, hostilities were again 
commenced, and Porto Bello, an American possession 
of the Spaniards, was reduced by Admiral Vernon. 

In 1740 the war was extended to France and Ba¬ 
varia, and in June, 1743, a great victory was gained 
at Dettingen over the French forces, in which the 
king was personally a sharer. 

In the year 1745 an attempt was again made in 
Scotland for the restoration of the Stuart line; and 




342 


GEORGE II. 


Charles Edward, grandson of James II., and commonly 
called tlie Young Pretender, placed himself at its head 
in the name of his father, who had been previously 
known as the “ Pretender.” The rebel troops were 
for some time successful: many northern towns fell 

' f 

into their hands: they had even marched as far as 
Derby in their way to London, when their progress 
was arrested by the Duke of Cumberland, second son 
of the king. They were totally defeated in a battle 
fought at Culloden, near Inverness; Charles Edward 
himself escaped into Prance with great difficulty, and 
no attempt has since been made to disturb the house 
of Brunswick in its British dominions. 

The East Indian possessions of England were greatly 
extended in this reign by the conquests of Lord Clive. 
General Wolfe gained a brilliant victory over the 
Prench and native Indians of America, who had united 
to oppose the establishment of the British colonies in 
that country; but Wolfe himself was slain in the 
moment of triumph. 

Frederick, Prince of Wales, son of George II., died 
before his father, to the great regret of the people, by 
whom he was greatly beloved. 

The close of the year 1759 witnessed the completion 
of that most masterly effort of civil engineering, the 
Eddystone Lighthouse—the Pharos of the British 
Isles—standing as it does the guiding-star to one of 
the most extensive stations of the greatest naval power 
the world has ever known. The Eddystone Light¬ 
house has not only the merit O' utility, but also sym- 






GEOEGE II. 


348 


metrical beauty, strength, and originality, and is of 
itself sufficient to immortalise the name of the archi¬ 
tect, John Smeeton. It is built upon the sloping 
side of a rock, which lies nearly south-west from the 
middle of Plymouth Sound; the nearest point of land 
is Earn Head, which is about ten miles distant. The 
rock derives its name from the set or current of the 
tides which is observed there. An eddy of the tides, 
our young reader must know, is a current setting in 
an opposite direction to the tide, according to the ve¬ 
locity of the stream or the size of the rock which in¬ 
terposes to produce it. There had been two light¬ 
houses on this spot previously—one erected by Win- 
stanley, in 1700, which, in 1703, was, in a terrific 



hurricane, with the unfortunate architect and his men, 
blown into the ocean; another, which was entirely of 



341 


GEORGE II. 


wood, and, in Smeeton’s opinion, well constructed, was 
erected in 1706, by Eudyerd; it stood firm until 1755, 
when it was destroyed by fire. 

The present edifice is a circular tower of stone, 
sweeping up in a gentle curve at its base, and gra¬ 
dually diminishing to the top, somewhat similar to the 
trunk of a tree. It has withstood the storms of, now, 
one hundred years uninjured, and, in all probability, 
will defy the tempests of centuries yet to come. 

George II. died very suddenly at Kensington, on 
the 25th of October, 1760, after a reign of thirty-three 
years, and in the seventy-seventh year of his age. 

In this reign Westminster Bridge was built by lot¬ 
tery : it was commenced in 1738 and finished in 1750. 
It was badly constructed, and was often requiring re¬ 
pairs. A handsome new bridge, erected on the same 
site, was opened in 1866. 



































GEORGE III. 


345 


GEOEGE ]II. 

1760 TO 1820. 

— ■» ' 

This prince was the grandson of Greorge II., and eldest 
of the nine children whom Frederick, Prince of Wales, 
son of the late monarch, had left at his death. He 
was twenty-two years old when he succeeded to the 
throne. 

The grandfather and great grandfather of this 
monarch had been more Grerman than English, and 
their anxiety for their continental dominions had fre¬ 
quently involved the nation in expensive wars ; George 
III., on the contrary, was an Englishman born and 
educated, the fairest hopes were entertained of his 
future government, and he was received by his people 
with extreme satisfaction. 

The numerous and important political events of 
this long reign would have little interest for you in 
your present state of knowledge, and must be passed 
over rapidly. Much dissatisfaction was excited in 
the American colonies, even in the earliest years of 
George III., by the system of taxation adopted for 
that country. This was partly quieted for a time, but 
at length broke out into open war; a battle was fought 
at Lexington, between the American colonists and the 
king’s forces, on the 19th of April, 1775; a second 
at Bunker’s Hill, on the 16th of June in the same 
year ; and on the 4th of July, in the year 1776, the 




346 


GEORGE III. 


colony threw off the dominion of the mother country, 
in its celebrated ‘‘Declaration of Independence.” 

The campaign which followed this “declaration” 
was favourable to the British arms ; but England be¬ 
came engaged in war withErance, Spain, and Holland, 
all which states had acknowledged the independence 
of America. In addition to these difficulties, riots 
prevailed at home to a most alarming extent, Ireland 
more especially being in a state of ferment, the con¬ 
tinual changes in the ministry adding to the turmoil 
of affairs. Thus pressed, the king was compelled to 
acknowledge the independence of America, which he 
did with reluctance. Peace was soon afterwards con¬ 
cluded with that country, as well as with Holland, 
France, and Spain. 

In August, 1782, a most unfortunate accident occur¬ 
red at Spithead, at a distance of about a mile from the 
entrance of Portsmouth harbour. The “Eoyal George,” 
a 100 gun ship, requiring some repairs to the keel, was 
hove a little on one side, and the guns were on that side 
removed, while in that situation a sudden squall 
threw her broadside on the water, and the lower deck 
ports being open, she immediately filled and sank, it is 
said in three minutes. Admiral Kempenfeldt, with 
400 of the crew, and 200 women and others perished. 

There had been now quiet throughout Europe for 
some years, when in 1789, the French revolution broke 
out, and the remainder of the reign was wholly occu¬ 
pied by the wars this event occasioned. 

In the year 1800 a union was effected between Eiig- 


OEOllGE III. 


347 


land and Ireland. In the same year the king was 
shot at by a maniac, named Hatfield, but escaped un¬ 
hurt. In 1802 the peace of Amiens was proclaimed ; 
but hostilities were renewed in 1803, and in 1805 the 
great Nelson fell, in the brilliant naval victory of Tra¬ 
falgar, gained over the combined fieets of Trance and 
Spain. In 1810 the king was seized with mental 
illness, and his eldest son, George, Prince of Wales, 
was called to the government of affairs in the king’s 
name, and with the title of Prince Hegent. 

In 1812, war was declared with America, but in 
two years after, the abdication of Napoleon Buona¬ 
parte, who had been for some years on the Trench 
throne, caused a general peace. Napoleon was sent 
to Elba, an island in the Mediterranean, but return¬ 
ing thence in the year 1815, Europe was again threat¬ 
ened with universal war, a calamity that was averted 
by the crowning victory of Waterloo; after which 
Buonaparte was sent to St. Helena, a solitary rock in 
the great Pacific Ocean, where he died. 

In 1816, Christian slavery was abolished in the 
then piratical state of Algiers, which has since become 
a Trench colony. The year following was marked by 
the lamented death of the Princess Charlotte, only 
daughter of the Prince Eegent, and wife of Leopold, 
Prince of Saxe Coburg ; and in 1820 the king himself 
expired at Windsor, on the 29th of January, having 
lived eighty-two years, and reigned sixty. 

George III. married Charlotte Sophia, Princess of 
Mecklenburg Strelitz, who died at Kew, November 


348 


GEORGE IV. 


17th, 1818 ; they had fifteen children, nine sons and 
six daughters. Among the memorable events of this 
reign was the celebration of a Jubilee, to commemo¬ 
rate the fiftieth anniversary of his Majesty’s accession, 
which took place on the 25th of October, 1809. 


aEOEGE IV. 

1820 TO 1830. 

♦ • 

George IY., who had been king, in all but the 
name, for ten years, was in his fifty-eighth year at the 
death of his father. His reign, as well as his govern¬ 
ment when Begent, was a period of most eventful im¬ 
portance. 

The energies of the British people to sustain the 
expenses of the long and costly war, had brought the 
manufacturing interests into great activity, and caused 
a considerable increase in the numbers of artisans, 
many of whom, by the transition to a state of peace, 
bringing a glut in the continental markets, and a 
consequent fall of prices, were thrown out of employ. 
The commercial difficulties were precipated by the 
Act of Parliament for the enforcement of cash pay¬ 
ment for the notes of the Bank of England, which 
also fixed the price of gold. The latter measure is by 
many considered to have been the forerunner of the 




GEOEGE IT. 


340 


commercial panics that have followed, and which have 
not yet subsided. Within a month after his acces¬ 
sion to the throne, the spirit of discontent had induced 
a set of desperate men into a determination to assas- 
inate the leading ministers of the government, whom 
they considered the authors of the distresses and 
sufferings of the people. This plot, from the place 
of its meeting in London, was called the Cato Street 
Conspiracy, it was headed by a man named Arthur 
Thistlewood ; the plot being betrayed by one of the 
confederates, and a police force, aided by some military 
being sent to apprehend them, the chief police offi¬ 
cer in advance was shot by Thistlewood; they were, 
however, disarmed and captured, and after trial Thistle¬ 
wood and other leaders were executed as traitors. 

On the accession of George lY. to the throne, 
the name of his consort was omitted in the Liturgy, 
contrary to usage ; and as it was understood that pre¬ 
parations were making for the coronation, in which the 
queen was to take no part, that personage left her 
seclusion in Germany, and arrived at Dover on the 
6th of June, where she was received with acclamation. 

The king was crowned alone, on the 6th of July, 
1826, and his consort, who presented herself at West¬ 
minster Abbey, was refused admittance. Her spirit 
sunk under this mortification, and she died on the 7th 
of August. 

Although England was at peace with foreign powers, 
yet the country was in an uneasy state ; agricultural 
produce being at a low price, there was much distress 



350 


GEOEGE lY. 


among the labourers, and consequent discontent: the 
year 1824 witnessed the rise of many projects, as 
speedy roads to wealth, and their failure, in 1825, 
created a money panic, which caused the failure of 
several London bankers, and others. 

The Eoman Catholics had been, by very severe laws 
passed in the reigns of Elizabeth and James I., 
disabled from holding certain ofS.ces and becoming 
members of the Legislature. Many attempts had 
been made to remove these disabilities, and measures 
to effect that object had been passed, at different times, 
the House of Commons, but had been rejected by the 
Lords. However, in 1829, the Duke of Wellington 
and Sir Eobert Peel, who had previously been opposed 
to the repeal, took it up as a government measure; it 
passed through both Houses of Parliament, and re¬ 
ceived the king’s assent on the 13th of April. 

The king had by degrees encouraged a love of se¬ 
clusion, and seldom appeared in public. He was sensible 
much of his conduct had been such as to create no 
affection in the hearts of the people ; and hence, when¬ 
ever necessity took him beyond the private grounds 
of Windsor, outriders were despatched before he set 
out, to see the road was clear, and if not, to turn ano¬ 
ther way; he well knew that he had never shown the 
least desire to promote the happiness of his people, 
and that there was no tie between them. In the spring 
of 1830, the infirmities of nature came on rapidly, 
and he sank on the 26th of June 1830. Greorge 
IV. was in the sixty-eighth year of his age: his 


WILLIAM IV. 


351 


reign of power, as regent and king, was twenty years. 
The great feature of the period was the improvement 
of the metropolis, especially the west end of London; 
mainly set on foot at the king’s instigation. 

G-eorge lY., was succeeded by his next brother, 
(the elder, the Duke of York, having died in 1827,) 
William, Duke of Clarence. 


WILLIAM IV. 

1830 TO 1837. 

- —♦— 

No sovereign had ascended the English throne with 
such cheering prospects as William lY. The peo¬ 
ple had, from national habit, a strong personal at¬ 
tachment to him. He was in manner and heart a sailor, 
a character, with all its failings, dear to the people. 
At the latter end of his brother’s reign, he held the 
office of Lord High Admiral, an office that had not 
been held by any individual, since the time of Queen 
Anne, when it was filled by her consort, Prince George. 
In fulfilling his duties, he visited all the ports and 
harbours of the kingdom, and by his familiar manners 
made himself a general favourite. The amiable man¬ 
ners of his consort, Adelaide, also tended much to in¬ 
crease his popularity ; and we can safely assert, mat at 






352 


WILLIAM IV. 


no period of our history were king and queen held in 
such high estimation, as William and Adelaide. 

The happiness that dawned, and the tranquillity 
looked for, was withheld for a time, by an outbreak in 
France, at the end of July, brought on by the issue 
of some ordinances which imposed severe restrictions 
on the press, and made considerable alterations in 
the constitution of the Legislature. It is not within 
the scope of our work to detail all the struggle between 
sovereign and subjects, but it is sufficient to state, 
that at the end of three days Charles returned into 
exile, and after some preliminary steps, Louis Philippe, 
the Duke of Orleans, was elevated to the throne. 

The vast changes and advances in civilization, that 
had been made in all classes of society, contributed 
to the spirit engendered by the struggles of our con¬ 
tinental neighbours to relieve themselves of many po¬ 
litical burdens, and in creating a determination in the 
minds of the British people for a reform in the system 
of representation in Parliament: consequently, the 
ministerial policy, on the opening of Parliament in 
1831, was looked for with much anxiety. The Duke 
of Wellington, as Prime Minister, however, announced 
that not only had he no message to submit on the 
subject, but also that he would most decidedly oppose 
any motion that had that object in view. The conse¬ 
quence of this declaration was, that on the first finan¬ 
cial question, the House of Commons, by a majority of 
twenty-nine, resolved that the government no longer 
possessed the confidence of the country. The Duke 



WILLIAM IT. 


353 


of Wellington and his party resigned, and Earl Grey 
and his friends, came into ofSce. The new ministry 
were pledged to a reform in Parliament, which was at 
every stage resisted by the House of Lords. 

The year 1831 was marked by the hrst appearance 
in England of a dire disease called cholera, well known 
in the east, but which until this time had not visited 
Europe. In many countries on the continent the mor¬ 
tality was very great. 

The year 1832 was opened by the ministers present¬ 
ing a new Eeform Bill, which, with some trifling altera¬ 
tions, was essentially the same as that rejected in the 
preceding year. The adverse party in the Upper 
House, finding the mass of the people so determined 
on the measure, evaded a threatened conflict, by ab¬ 
senting themselves on a division, and the Bill passed, 
receiving the royal assent, June 7, 1832. 

Another great and important measure of this year, 
was the total extinction of slavery in our West Indian 
colonies, twenty millions of money being voted as re¬ 
compense for any loss that the planters might sustain. 
This, at first sight, appears an enormous sum; but the 

achievement was too glorious to be dear at any price. 

The king, who, though generally blest with good 
health, had at times exhibited the appearance of disease 
of the heart, was taken ill in May 1837; he rapidly 
became worse, and expired on the 20th of June, 1837, 
his head reposing on the queen’s arm; his amiable 
consort had watched and nursed him with unremitting 
care throughout his sufferings. 




354 


ALEXANDRINA VICTORIA. 


ALEXANDEINA YICTOEIA. 

1837. 

This princess, tlie only cliild of Edward, Duke of Kent, 
and of the Princess Louisa Victoria of Saxe Coburg, suc¬ 
ceeded her uncle William lY., and was crowned 28th 
June 1838. She was born at Kensington Palace 24th 
May 1819,—^her father and mother, who had been for 
some time residing abroad, having hastened home to 
England in order that their child might be born a 
Briton. The death of the Duke of Kent, in 1820, left 
her the heir presumptive to the throne; but until within 
a few weeks of her accession, Victoria spent her life in 
retirement, occasionally varied by tours through the 
kingdom. She was only eighteen years of age when the 
news was brought her that she was Queen. It is said 
that she received the news with a burst of tears; nor 
was it unnatural that so young a princess should feel 
deeply the great responsibilities of her station. 

In 1840, by her marriage with Prince Albert, she 
obtained a fitting helpmeet to aid and counsel her. Her 
Majesty has ever been the model of a true woman in 
every relation of life, whether as a queen, a mfe, or a 
mother. The Prince Consort equally graced his high 
position. Eew men have been placed in such a difficult 
position as he, and none have passed the ordeal with 
such universal approbation. 

Victoria had but a short time held the reins of 
government when news came of a great disaster to her 


ALEXANDRINA VICTORlcV. 


355 


arms in India. The government there had unwisely 
taken part in a civil war in Affghanistan, and despatched 
troops thither. By treachery, they were entrapped and 
massacred. A strong force, promptly sent for the pur¬ 
pose, inflicted a severe chastisement on the Affghans. 

In 1845 and 1846, in consequence of the total failure 
of the potato plant in Ireland, the greatest distress pre¬ 
vailed. This was succeeded by a pestilence, which 
swept off great numbers. The Imperial Parliament 
voted ten millions sterling in aid, and subscriptions 
poured in from all parts of the world. 

In 1848, King Louis Philippe having displeased the 
lively Parisians, an emeute took place. The king fled 
to England, crossing the Channel in a fishing boat. A 
Eepublic was proclaimed, with “ Liberte, Egalite, and 
Eraternite” as their motto. But Eepublicanism was 
not adapted to the French character; and after some 
disturbances, Louis Kapoleon Bonaparte was elected 
Emperor of the French. Similar troubles extended 
throughout nearly all Europe. Britain—resting on the 
liberality of her constitution—passed unharmed through 
the struggle, an hundred thousand special constables in 
London alone volunteering to keep the peace. Louis 
Napoleon, then a fugitive in London, was one of them. 

In May 1851, the great International Exhibition was 
opened in Hyde Park. It was one of the happy ideas 
of the good Prince Albert. It was a triumphant success. 
Upwards of six million visits were paid to the Exhibi¬ 
tion; on one day 107,000 persons entered the building. 

The inauguration of the International Exhibition was 


356 


ALEXANDRINA VICTORIA. 


hailed hy many as the commencement of a reign of peace, 
and that wars in Europe had come to a close. Never 
was made a greater mistake. Two years after its close, 
Britain and France were engaged in the Eussian war. 

Eussia had long directed a covetous eye to Constan¬ 
tinople as the means of securiug her power in the East. 
In 1853, thinking the fitting time was come, war was 
declared. Too feehle to oppose the Eussians alone, 
Turkey applied to the European powers. Britain and 
France made common cause with Turkey, and in 1854 
they sent large armaments to the Crimea. At the Eiver 
Alma they gained a great battle over the Eussians, and 
Sebastopol was invested. It was very strongly fortified, 
and defended with great skill and bravery. During 
the siege occurred the battle of Inkerman, fought in a 
dense fog. The British, outnumbered by the Eussians 
by five to one, held their position, without flinching, in a 
“ thin red line,” one deep, against the solid columns of 
the Eussians. The French came to their aid, and the 
Eussian army was routed with fearful slaughter. After 
a siege which lasted nearly two years, Sebastopol was 
taken, and peace was concluded 19th April 1856. 

In 1856 occurred the Indian mutiny. It was a ter¬ 
rible time ; north, south, east, and west—everywhere 
the native troops rose in insurrection, and committed 
every conceivable atrocity. Fortunately, the officers in 
command were equal to the occasion; there was no 
blundering to render useless the stern bravery of the 
British troops; Lawrence, Havelock, Outram, Campbell, 
and Eose, acted their parts like heroes; the rebels were 


ALEXANDRINA VICTORIA. 


357 


everywhere beaten and dispersed, and in August 1858 
the mutiny was stamped out. The East India Company 
were now seen to he too weak to deal with such events; 
their government was put an end to; and on 1st Sep¬ 
tember 1858, the Queen was proclaimed in India. 

At the same time we were involved in a war with 
Cliina, in which Pekin itself was captured. A peace 
was concluded in 1860. 

In 1861 a civil war, of dimensions—like all things 
American—beyond all precedent, broke out in the 
United States between the slave-holding and the non- 
slave-holding States. On the election of President 
Lincoln, an opponent of slavery, the slave States, feeling 
their power was on the wane, conceived the idea of estab¬ 
lishing a separate Union on Slavery principles; their 
deputies gave a formal notice of secession, and retired 
from Congress. Both parties prepared for war. The 
Southerners began the conflict by taking Fort Sumpter 
13th April 1861, and thus aroused the whole energies of 
the Northern States. The Southerners were commanded 
by very able generals, and although greatly inferior in 
numbers and wealth to the rest of the Union, the mili¬ 
tary talents of their leaders enabled them to maintain 
the struggle for nearly four years. They defeated the 
northern troops in many bloody battles; but, notwith¬ 
standing their heroic stand in defence of a bad cause, 
the superior numbers of the northerners ultimately 
enabled them, in April 1865, to crush the rebellion, 
and to abolish slavery in every part of the Union. One 
week later Lincoln was barbarously assassinated. 



358 


ALEXANDRINA VICTORIA. 


Britain proclaimed a strict neutrality, but narrowly 
escaped a collision with tbe United States. By modera¬ 
tion, and by making allowances for tbe unusual circum¬ 
stances of tbe Union, peace was, however, maintained. 
Britain got no credit for her forbearance, and feehngs 
exist in the States towards Britain which we have never 
been able to understand. 

In April 1859, Austria invaded Piedmont. The 
Sardinian Government having secured the assistance of 
Prance by an offer of Nice and Savoy, in a series of 
battles utterly defeated the Austrians, and a peace was 
concluded, in which Lombardy was ceded to Sardinia. 

All Italy now rose against her sovereigns. Plorence, 
Modena, Parma, and the Eomagna expelled their rulers, 
and declared for annexation with Piedmont. Garibaldi, 
landing in May 1860 in Sicily, with a few followers, the 
troops and people came over to him en masse, and hailed 
him as a deliverer. He then, almost unattended, landed 
at ISTaples, and was received everywhere with enthu¬ 
siasm. The king fled to Borne; and in October Gari¬ 
baldi saluted the brave Victor Emanuel as King of Italy. 

In December 1861, Great Britain was plunged into 
the deepest distress by the death of the good Prince 
Albert. The event was felt to be a national calamity; 
and over the whole land there arose one strain of sym¬ 
pathy with our beloved Queen’s irreparable loss. 

In 1864, war again broke out in Europe. The Danes, 
desirous of bringing all their territory under one code 
of laws and government, incorporated Holstein with 
the Danish monarchy. Holstein formed part of the Ger- 


ALEXAXDRINA VICTORIA. 


359 


manic Confederation, and this aggression was resented 
by them. The Danes were compelled to abandon 
Holstein and part of Schleswic to Germany. 

Prussia and Austria, the leaders of this war, quar¬ 
relled as to the possession of the spoil, and at last all 
Germany was in arms to decide whether Prussia or 
Austria should be its future master. Prussia was pre¬ 
pared, Austria was not. In one short week the armies 
of Austria, with those of the German States support¬ 
ing her, were annihilated by the Prussian forces. 
Austria was compelled to make peace, and to agree to 
be completely excluded from the German Confedera¬ 
tion, which remained under the sole leadership of 
Prussia. Prussia, at the same time, incorporated Han¬ 
over, Cassel, and Nassau, with her own States, and 
their princes were driven into exile. Italy, which had 
supported Prussia in the war, obtained possession of 
the long-lost Venetian provinces. 

The consolidation of Germany caused great dissatis¬ 
faction in France, and constant attempts were made 
to obtain from Germany some extension of her frontier, 
and it would even appear that a proposal was made by 
Napoleon to be allowed to seize Belgium, while he 
would permit Germany to seize Holland. These ad¬ 
vances, however, came to nothing. In 1870, on a silly 
pretext as to the candidature of a Prussian prince to 
the Spanish Crown, France declared war against 
Prussia. Germany at once made common cause with 
Prussia, and invaded France. In a series of battles, 
without example in modern history, the Germans de- 


360 


ALEXANDRINA VICTORIA. 


stroyed or captured almost tlie whole of the French 
army, and carried the Emperor a prisoner to Germany. 

After a four months’ siege, Paris was taken, and a 
treaty was made with a new government elected by 
the nation, in which Alsace and the northern part of 
Lorraine were ceded to Germany. Germany, to com¬ 
plete her unification, elected the King of Prussia as 
Emperor of Germany. 

Italy watched this struggle with the liveliest inte¬ 
rest; and on the fall of Napoleon she took possession 
of Pome, thus ending the long reign of the papacy. 

*■ In the midst of these serious events abroad Britain is 
maintaining unbroken peace at home, her institutions, 
ever moving onwards with the progress of opinion, have 
been adapted to the wants of the time; the elective 
franchise has been so lowered as to include the greater 
part of the population, while her educational interests 
are engrossing the full attention of the government. 

Nor have we been neglecting the moral and reli¬ 
gious interest of the nation. Never at any time have 
churches and missionary societies been better sup¬ 
ported; and we do not forget to trace, in our material 
as well as religious prosperity, the hand of Him who 
alone can cause peace and happiness, truth and justice, 
religion and liberty, to be established among us. 

Our beloved Queen, too, has given an elevated tone 
to society. The influence of her model household has 
been felt in every rank, and the great heart of the 
nation is ever ready to throb truly to the cry, 
LONGilVE QliEEX NACTORIA ! 




























































